The Amsterdam Common Council voted yesterday to give the Amsterdam Industrial Development Agency the job of administrating two New York State grants that were originally secured on behalf of the city by Montgomery County. One grant is for $500,000 and will allow the Sanford Clock Tower to create a business incubator space. The other is a $200,000 Micro-Enterprise grant which will allow AIDA to award small grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 to a dozen city-based businesses.
The Montgomery County Business Development Center originally secured the grants for the city and intended to administer them. However, due to the resignation of Economic Development Specialist Danielle Whelly, whose primary task was to work with City of Amsterdam programs, Mayor Michael Villa asked AIDA to take on the administration. MCBDC CEO Ken Rose said last week that it will take at least a couple months to find a replacement for Whelly.
According to AIDA Director Jody Zakrevsky, the agency is seeking to hire a part-time employee to help administer the micro-enterprise grant. He said the application and selection process for the grant has yet to be implemented.
The council also granted AIDA the job of administering two other grants for projects already being handled by the agency: a $500,000 Restore NY grant for Cranesville Properties to develop the former Wrestling Hall of Fame building into a commercial/residential space, and a $750,000 grant to assist the development of the former downtown hotel property into The Sentinel at Amsterdam, a soon-to-be completed assisted living community.
