FARMINGTON – Franklin County commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a total of $69,665 in grants and employment training scholarships to enhance economic development in the county.

Commissioners accepted the recommendations of the Tax-Increment Financing Application Review Team that reviews and grades the applications.

This is the second round of TIF grant applications that have been awarded since March. In the first round, $85,774 was awarded.

County commissioners entered into a credit enhancement agreement in 2008 with TransCanada Maine Wind Development Inc., a wholly-owned affiliate of TransCanada Corp. The agreement is related to the development of the 44-turbine Kibby Wind Power Project on Kibby Mountain and Kibby Range.

The agreement allows for 75 percent of the new taxes to be retained by the county over 20 years, with county commissioners reimbursing the company 60 percent of those new taxes annually for 20 years. The remainder of the TIF funds would be dedicated to the county for economic development in the unorganized territory.

The county is expected to retain $4 million to enhance economic development.

Alison Hagerstrom, executive director of Greater Franklin Development Corp., oversees the applications and committee.

“We evaluated the second round of applications,” she said.

Five grant applications were received and two employee training scholarship applications were received. Two other letters of intent were submitted but were not ready for an application.

County Clerk Julie Magoon was present at the scoring meeting but did not participate.

“All of the projects that came in were pretty good,” Hagerstrom said. “All of the projects scored pretty high except one – the Arnold Trail one because there was no evidence of collaboration.”

Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust had requested $18,000 but was awarded $11,250 for a gateway monuments project for scenic byway improvements, she said. The committee recommended funding one gateway sign. This project will be in the TIF district on the Townships D and E Route 17 tract.

The second sign for Madrid Township is not an allowable project under the categories requested, Hagerstrom said. She said the committee will be requesting county commissioners consider an amendment in the future to the TIF district to include Route 4 in Madrid Township for scenic byway improvements. She said that maybe the scenic byway doesn’t come down to Madrid and that is why it didn’t fit within the categories.

The Arnold Trail Snowmobile Network was funded for $10,000. The total cost of the project is $15,000. The project calls excavating two new sections of ITS 86, the interconnecting trail system, on Bug-Eye Mountain in Chain of Ponds Township. About 2 miles of trail would be rerouted.

Another project is for the Flagstaff Area Business Section for $27,000. That project is for Route 27 scenic byway interpretive signage to put on the road from Jim Pond Township to Coburn Gore Township and the Wyman Township tract.

The Maine Application Trail Club, Inc. was granted $10,000 for Horns Pond Trail improvements in the Bigelow Preserve, in Wyman Township. The plan is for the club’s trail crew to stabilize and divert water from the eroding Horns Pond Trail by building 45 rock steps and water bars. The total cost of the project is $18,234.

Western Mountains Corp. was awarded $10,000 to develop a nonmotorized trail from Coburn Gore to Kingfield. The trail is proposed to coordinate with the efforts of the Route 27 Scenic Byway committee to enhance tourism economy.

Employment training scholarships were awarded to Anthony Cusumano, $415, for a radiologic technology program and Jacob Richards for $1,000 for a nursing program, both of the UT.

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