(Okoboji)– The region 3 REAP Assembly was held Thursday afternoon in Okoboji. Representatives from Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola and Sioux counties were on hand. Presentations were given on some of the various projects locally that have benefited through the program.
Motions were also made on issues that will be forwarded by five region three delegates who were voted on Thursday to represent Region 3 at the statewide REAP Congress August 29th at the statehouse in Des Moines. Michelle Wilson is the statewide REAP Coordinator for the Iowa DNR. She says the issues identified in region 3 are similar to ones that have been brought up in regional REAP assemblies in other areas of the state…
“Fully fund REAP, eliminate the sunset date, don’t open the formula. So from the citizenry, literally from, I have five left and so every one I’ve done since we started has basically had those three motions from the citizens. They love this program. It has a lot of volume to them in the communities and they just want to see it continue. So what we saw today was what we’ve had happen at all of the ones previous to this and I expect the ones I have remaining, they’ll probably be the top three as well.”
Wilson says state REAP funding is currently set to expire June 30th, 2028. She says similar sunset deadlines for the program in the past have been extended by the Legislature…
“Eliminate the sunset date or I’ve had some of them that said extend it another two years, some of them have said extend it another 10 years. Again people want to see these funds. We had a great presentation on a historic preservation project today. You know they just help so many different things across these counties and these regions. People want to see these projects continue so that’s why they keep asking for an extension of that sunset date.”
Wilson says she’s grateful for the support REAP has received in the past from the Legislature and is hopeful that will continue…
“We’ve had great support from the legislature, we’ve had really consistent funding for the last several of years, $20 million has been appropriated by our legislature and that really for us that run the grant programs, that’s great money that we can get out to communities. The legislature always has to balance all of the different things that they need to give money for. We’ve been really fortunate and I think a lot of that is also because we have people that come out to assemblies just like this and lend their voice and how important this is to them. They do great stuff with these monies. You can see REAP projects just about in every community and every town that you go through, and so it does really great stuff.”
Thursday’s Region 3 REAP Assembly was held at Maser Monarch Lodge.
