And The Winners Are .....

I'm going to make you wait and read the actual list on the Ameren web site once it is posted. When I left at 9:45pm last night the panel was still working out details of the funding. However, here are some headlines. The EMS package (fire, ambulance, 911, ect) received almost $2 million or 40% of the funds. Of the remaining five FERC criteria, economic development, quality of life, wildlife habitat, education, and recreation here is how I saw it divided.

Wildlife habitat received no funding. I'll admit there were very few proposals, but you have to remember that if you were born and raised locally (like the majority of the panel) that wildlife falls into two categories, food and pests. And while some will try to stretch the concept, I feel that there were no funds for economic development. This is an area with high poverty and underemployment. I know a woman that drives to Farmington and back each day (100 miles) to work as a waitress. But still no real funds for economic development!

So what about the remaining three criteria. Well $120,000 went reluctantly to tourism (recreation), but with a number of strange strings attached. The education part of the puzzle was still being worked on when I left, but the schools in the area will probably get a good chunk of cash, mainly because they are poor. I know that it will be argued that the school funding is also going to improve the quality of life factor, but for who or how many.

Finally that leaves the buying of two dump trucks, two 4WD pickups, one front end loader, new water pipes for Lesterville, kitchen equipment for the Annapolis community center, a K-9 training center, and a number of other local government requests.

I do feel that the EMS funding will contribute to the quality of life for everyone in the area, but a lot of the other funding seemed to go to local offices just because we are all poor. Once again I hope that five years from now someone looks into what effect these funds had on the area. No one seemed to have a grand vision.