The Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) Small Government Program provides grants and loans to villages and townships with populations in the unincorporated areas of less than 5,000.
Each District Integrating Committee has a Small Government Subcommittee. Project applications are first reviewed by the nineteen (19) District Integrating Committees. If project applications from Small Government eligible municipalities are not recommended for funding at the District level, they have another chance to be evaluated by the Small Government Subcommittee to receive funding through the Small Government Program. Small Government project applications are submitted by each District to the OPWC Small Government Commission to compete on a statewide basis. Grants are limited to $500,000. Any additional assistance needed will be in the form of a 0% interest loan.
There are eleven (11) project applications from seven (7) municipalities in District One eligible for consideration in the Small Government Program.
Scoring
Per the District One SCIP Applicant Manual, the DOPWIC staff first reviewed all the project applications and determined scores according to the DOPWIC methodology. All Small Government project applications were then scored using the Small Government Methodology Evaluation Criteria as shown in the table below. Small Government Ability and Effort criterion is not scored; thus, all projects were assigned zero points in this category. The DOPWIC Small Government Subcommittee will assign District One Priority Points to five of the seven top ranked projects at the DOPWIC Small Government Subcommittee meeting in order to maximize the competitiveness of District One projects to be funded at the State level. The DOPWIC Small Government score may not be the same as that calculated by the Small Government Administrator. However, the DOPWIC Small Government score serves as an indicator as to which applications are likely to be more competitive at the state level.
| EVALUATION/SCORING CRITERIA | MAXIMUM POINTS |
|---|---|
| Ability and Effort | 10 |
| Health and Safety | 10 |
| Age | 5 |
| Condition | 5 |
| Leveraging Ratio | 10 |
| Population Benefit | 5 |
| District Priority Ranking | 10 |
| Amount Requested | 10 |
| Loan Request | 10 |
| Useful Life | 5 |
| Median Household Income | 10 |
| Readiness to Proceed | 10 |
| TOTAL POINTS | 100 |
Preliminary Project Rankings
The Revised Project Rankings are listed, in order from the highest score to the lowest. Based on these Preliminary Project Rankings, the DOPWIC staff has identified Primary Recommendations – the seven (7) top-ranked projects.
Applicant Appeals
Per the PY2022 Applicant Manual, Applicants can appeal the score(s) received in the Preliminary Project Ranking to reassess a project score. Information that was not part of the original application will not be accepted during the appeal process.
All appeals must be submitted via email to Ms. Alison Ball, DOPWIC Liaison, at aball@cuyahogacounty.us; by Monday, December 19, 2022 by 4:30 p.m. Appeals must specify the category or categories that the applicant considers were incorrectly evaluated. The appeal must be accompanied by an explanation of why the awarded points appear incorrect.
The DOPWIC received two (2) appeals to the Small Government Preliminary Ranking. The DOPWIC reviewed the appeals to determine if any corrective action is recommended. The DOPWIC will address the Appeals and Staff Recommendations at the Project Selection Meeting.
Small Government Subcommittee Evaluation and Final Project Ranking
The DOPWIC Small Government Subcommittee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, following the general DOPWIC meeting. Projects recommended for SCIP/LTIP funds by the DOPWIC will no longer be considered for the Small Government Program. The Small Government Project Rankings, upon DOPWIC Small Government Subcommittee approval, will be forwarded to the OPWC Small Government Commission. The Small Government Administrator will contact those applicants via email according to the Small Government process, which allows applicants another opportunity to supply additional material during a thirty (30) day cure period.
Applicants who do not wish to participate in the Small Government Program should contact Ms. Alison Ball at aball@cuyahogacounty.us.
Applicants not funded are welcome to contact the Liaison to discuss the merits of their application after the recommendations have been submitted to OPWC.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Alison Ball via email at aball@cuyahogacounty.us.