The Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) Small Government Program provides grants and loans to villages and townships with populations in the unincorporated areas of less than 5,000.

Project applications for OPWC Small Government Program funding are first reviewed by the nineteen (19) District Integrating Committees. If project applications from Small Government eligible municipalities are not recommended for funding at the District level, they have another chance  to be evaluated by the Small Government Subcommittee to receive funding through the Small Government Program. Small Government project applications are submitted by each District to the OPWC Small Government Commission to compete on a statewide basis. Grants are limited to $500,000. Any additional assistance needed will be in the form of a 0% interest loan.

There are ten (10) project applications from eight (8) municipalities in District One eligible for consideration in the Small Government Program.

Scoring 

Per the District One SCIP Applicant Manual, the DOPWIC staff first reviewed all the project applications and determined scores according to the DOPWIC methodology. All Small Government project applications were then scored using the Small Government Methodology Evaluation Criteria as shown in the table below. Small Government Ability and Effort criterion could not be scored; thus, all projects were assigned zero points in this category. The District Priority criteria scores will be added in after the DOPWIC Small Government Subcommittee approval of projects. The DOPWIC Small Government score may not be the same as that calculated by the Small Government Administrator. However, the DOPWIC Small Government score serves as an indicator as to which applications are likely to be more competitive at the state level.

Preliminary Project Rankings

The Preliminary Project Rankings are listed in order from the highest score to the lowest on the attached spreadsheet. Based on these Preliminary Project Rankings, the DOPWIC staff has identified Primary Recommendations — the five (5) top-ranked projects.

Applicant Appeals

Per the PY2019 Applicant Manual, applicants can appeal the score(s) received in the Preliminary Project Ranking to reassess a project score. Information that was not part of the original application will not be accepted during the appeal process.

All appeals must be submitted via email to Ms. Alison Ball, DOPWIC Liaison, at aball@cuyahogacounty.us by Friday, December 6, 2019 by 4:30 p.m.   Appeals must specify the category or categories that the applicant considers were incorrectly evaluated. The appeal must be accompanied by an explanation of why the awarded points appear incorrect.

The DOPWIC Staff will review the appeals and determine if any corrective action is recommended. The DOPWIC Small Government Subcommittee will address the Appeals at the Final Selection Meeting on Thursday, January 16, 2020.

Small Government Subcommittee Evaluation and Final Project Ranking

The DOPWIC Small Government Subcommittee is scheduled to meet on Thursday, January 16, 2020. Projects recommended for SCIP/LTIP funds by the DOPWIC will no longer be considered for the Small Government Program. The Small Government Project Rankings, upon DOPWIC Small Government Subcommittee approval, will be forwarded to the OPWC Small Government Commission. The Small Government Administrator will contact those applicants via email according to the Small Government process, which allows applicants another opportunity to supply additional material during a thirty (30) day time period.

Applicants who do not wish to participate in the Small Government Program should contact Ms. Alison Ball at (216) 443-3727 or aball@cuyahogacounty.us.

Applicants not funded are welcome to contact the Liaison to discuss the merits of their application after the recommendations have been submitted to OPWC.