The $600,000 grant application to help boost a Brookville business and local economic development is still in the works for approval. Lawrenceburg City Council met Monday night and State Rep. Jud McMillin of Brookville was there to clarify his interest in the business.
McMillin had been an investor with Destination Brookville LLC, the business applying for the grant, but he told council, and WRBI, he had no financial interest in the business as of earlier this year. “I gave them documentation of the corporation information from Destination Brookville, showing where I had divested myself, and following up with the operating agreement amended when I left. As well as the accepted new registered agent from the secretary of state. So all of those types of things.”
He said he did have an interest when he was elected to office a couple of years ago. McMillin serves on the Lawrenceburg 10 County Regional Granting agency and abstain from voting because of a conflict of interest. His mother, Sharon McMillin and family friends, Jenny Wilz, Allen Beneker own Destination Brookville LLC.
McMillin said, “I have to disclose everything I am interested in at any point in the calendar year, so if one day in the calendar year I had an interest in something it is incumbent upon me to disclose that, which is exactly what I did.”
Some of the council members were concerned that he wasn’t upfront about his family connections initially, but he said he disclosed it during a granting committee meeting. They discussed then if it wasn’t clear during the public meeting.
McMillin commented that the Destination Brookville owners’ intention is it to help Brookville and the county by attracting and keeping tourist dollars. A small lodging inn, restaurant and revamped movie theaters are part of the grant. “They are fronting a whole bunch of money for private investments purposes into those projects, and if numbers come back from those financial analysis that it is not a good financial idea, and then they don’t want to take the grant and risk losing their own money,” McMillin said.
The grant is still in the process on whether it should be awarded or not. The city attorney is reviewing the application for due diligence. The Journal Press will have more from this meeting online and in print.
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