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Wednesday night, the Webster City Hotel/Motel tax board heard presentations from the recipients of the grants which were awarded last year.
Those organizations included Arts R Alive, The DUB, Kendall Young Library and the Wilson Brewer Park and Depot Foundation.
During the meeting, The DUB stepped up to report that they didn't use the funds. "
"The appetite for our project wasn't really there," said Andy Hejlik, representing The DUB. He explained that the school district and the city are collaborating to meet the need, and he apologized to the board that others were not able to utilize the grant monies allocated to them.
Arts R Alive also requested that the monies they did not spend during the past year, be allowed to be used in 2026-2027. That amount of $4,000 was tied into activities through the Webster City Chamber of Commerce, and their offices were closed much of the summer, making them unable to pursue the projects they had planned to utilize the funds for.
Both the Kendall Young Library and the Wilson Brewer Park had completed the majority of their projects that were funded in the last request, but still had some work to finalize in the next few months.
The Kendall Young Library has rebranded the library logo, but has not fully incorporated the branding into the materials as they had planned. The Wilson Brewer park, had completed the ADA accessibility for the restrooms, in addition to purchasing and erecting a new sign along Superior St. The model train project planned for the basement of the Illinois Central Depot, was delayed due to items still in the basement that needed to be moved to the Hamilton County Courthouse, according to board treasurer Tamiann Parrott.
New requests were presented also to the board including additional funding for the Kendall Young Library, and the Wilson Brewer Park Foundation. A new request was heard from Brian Holt, on behalf of Ryan Rupiper, requesting additional funds to restock walleyes at the Briggs Woods Lake.
Decisions on funding for the 2026/2027 will be announced when the board completes their evaluations.