We’ll soon be one step closer to knowing whether or not three Cayuga County villages will get state funding to revitalize their downtowns.
The mayors of Aurora, Cayuga, and Union Springs, along with County Planning Department Staff will head to Le Moyne College on Monday to present their individual NY Forward and joint DRI grant proposals to the Regional Economic Development Council (REDC). Each mayor – Rob Thurston Jr for Union Springs, Don Wilson Jr for Cayuga, and Jim Orman for Aurora – will be joined by a county planner to pitch their village’s specific NY Forward proposal. For the DRI presentation, all three mayors and the planners will present to the committee together.
Each presentation will last 15 minutes and be followed by a five to ten-minute Q&A session.
Cayuga County Associate Planner Kari Terwilliger had previously explained the purpose of the presentations to Finger Lakes News Radio.
“That’s our opportunity to recap the application and to answer any questions that they have,” Terwilliger said, “as well as for our mayors to give their final plug to the scoring committee as far as why us? Why now? Yes, we’re ready and yes, we’re deserving.”
For REDC purposes, Cayuga County is grouped with Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego Counties as part of the Central New York Region.
Each regional council will award one $10 million DRI grant and two $4.5 million NY Forward grants with funding awarded in early 2024.
Each village is individually applying for its own NY Forward grant while the three villages along Cayuga Lake’s eastern shore are working together in a bid to have the state jointly award them the $10 million in DRI funding.
On Tuesday, Mayor Wilson spoke to the Cayuga County Legislature about the cooperation between each village that has been fostered by this process. You can view his remarks below:
