One of the items before the Branson Board of Aldermen Tuesday night was a request from Elevate Branson to work with the city to apply for more funding for the Elevate Community Project after the lone bid on the project was higher than the original amount of the grant.

The Community Development Block Grant funds awarded in 2021 was for $1.9 million while the bid that was opened in April of this year was for just under $3.2 million. 

This request came three weeks after a Special Meeting of the Board in which Elevate co-founder Bryan Stallings and the Board had a tense discussion on progress on other projects when the organization was requesting funds for other projects which was denied by the board. Although this item was not related to the previous discussion, that meeting was brought up with Mayor Larry Milton and some of the Aldermen laying out their concerns on the information provided while Stallings countered with some issues in trying to move forward in the process including working through some of the city guidelines. Several other people also spoke on the subject during the lengthy discussion, and all agreed that many steps remain in getting a handle on the housing situation in the region. 

In the end, the Ordinance was approved unanimously to go after more CDBG Funds for the Elevate Community Project. The Ordinance was approved on two readings due to the timing of applying for the funds and the expiration of the bid. 

More details on the meeting can be found on the City of Branson YouTube Channel.