Ulysses Engine & Machine receives Grant County Development grant

Ulysses Engine & Machine wins $25,000.00 grant from Grant County Economic Development.

On May, 10th 2018 Grant County Economic Development met for the regular monthly meeting and conducted interviews with eight applicants vying for the $25,000 Business Revitalization Grant.

Applications for the grant were available January 2nd,  and, had to be submitted by March 30th.  Nine applications were submitted, seven from existing businesses and two start-ups.  Bob Dale, Director of Grant County Economic Development said, “The start-ups had the toughest job. Since they have no track record to judge past performance on, they were required to submit complete business plans along with everything else.” Of the existing businesses they were all an expansion of services that would require new equipment and hiring of new employees.

“It was very close”, Dale said of the final decision.  “We had four contenders who rose to the top and then the board had to duke it out from there.”  Ron Hartman’s planned expansion for Ulysses Engine & Machine looks to be a homerun for Ulysses and Grant County bringing in a lot of new revenue to the community.  This grant money will assist Ron in purchasing a computerized CNC machine that will be the only one of its kind between Denver and Oklahoma City, allowing him to offer a unique service to the industry.

GCED President Galen Pelton stated, “The real bonus for us is that we now have several new projects on our radar and we will be working with many of them moving forward to see how we can be of assistance.” “The board will be revisiting the applications and will be inviting some of the applicants back for further discussion on how GCED may be able to help”, said Dale.

All in all it was a successful BRP.

This is the 4th year that GCED has conducted the Business Revitalization Program and, so far, it has resulted in over $120,000 in local business investment.