IOWA CITY

Johnson County’s Community and Food Grant program drew a whopping 126 applications totaling more than $2.7 million in requested funds.

The program, which is financed by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and approved by the Board of Supervisors, was budgeted for $100,000 this year.

As a result, nine of the 74 eligible requests were approved for funding by the Johnson County Food Policy Council. The recommendations were provided to the board in a presentation by Food Policy Council members at the board’s work session Dec. 14.

Leading the approval list were $15,000 grants to Williams Topsoil, which raises chickens on a Solon farm; Poimen Bosko Foods, a Filipino food business in Swisher; Echollective Farm, a vegetable farm based in Mechanicsville; and IC Compassion, a nonprofit based in Iowa City.

“Those nine wouldn’t be able to do this without this grant,” Supervisor Lisa Green-Douglass said.

Most of those approved for the grants are using the money to purchase equipment, including Poimen Bosko Foods, which intends to purchase a mobile kitchen and food trailer.

Formal approval for the grants will come in January. Ilsa Dewald, local foods coordinator for the Food Policy Council, told the board she hoped more funds could be found for more grants in Fiscal Year 2024, given the large amount of interest in the grant program.

Also approved for grants were Over the Moon Farm and Flowers ($14,000), El Azul ($10,000), Nam and Anna’s Garden ($8,500), Center for Worker Justice ($5,000) and the Simon Bwayo vegetable farm ($2,500).

Board Action

At its Dec. 15 formal session, the board approved Jim Schroeder Construction of Bellevue for a bridge project on Utah Avenue SE near Lone Tree. Schroeder’s bid was $760,145 for work that would begin around May 1, 2023.

The board re-appointed Rebecca Frantz of Wellman to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Her new five-year term begins Jan. 1, 2023.

The board approved sending funding requests to a number of counties and cities, including Washington County, to help pay for a U.S. Geological Survey study of the Silurian Aquifer, which provides water to a large portion of Eastern Iowa. The study, costing more than $460,000, will focus on expected ground-water supplies through 2045. Johnson County is partnering with the USGS in the study, but is also seeking financial assistance. Washington County is being asked for a contribution of $7,658. City requests include Kalona ($904), Wellman ($396) and Riverside ($185).