Old Stoney grant app hits a roadblock

On behalf of the City of Sundance, which is sponsoring a grant application to complete the Old Stoney refurbishment project, Mayor Paul Brooks and Clerk-Treasurer Theresa Curren recently met with the Wyoming Business Council (WBC).

All did not go to plan, according to Brooks.

The WBC has recently rewritten the criteria for its grants, he told the council on Tuesday. Now, the entity applying for a grant is required to quantify the jobs that the project will either support or create.

Sundance has no statisticians available to figure out this number, Brooks said.

However, the mayor was adamant that the city will continue in its attempt to secure the needed funding. Sundance’s ask is just a little bit different, he said.

Old Stoney remains the longest-running open project on the WBC’s books, said Brooks. This funding needed to finally finish things out.

It’s also needed for energy efficiency, he added. If the project is left unfinished, the roof will never be properly insulated, and it will continue to cost significantly more than it should to heat and cool the building.

The WBC chose not to recommend the project, according to the mayor. However, he will be attending the State Lands and Investments Board meeting at which the project will be presented “on a hope and a prayer” to ask them to finally get this thing done.

The grant would enable the second and final phase of the Old Stoney refurbishment, which will see the top floor return to being the auditorium it was back in 1923.

It will also include a catering kitchen, bathroom and large and small meeting rooms. Completion will additionally add energy efficiency to the building, particularly through insulation in the roof, and round out the fire suppression.

The council passed a resolution in support of the grant application.