County Home Caretaker House is accepted as eligible for National Register of Historic Places

Members of the Oneota Historic Future Alliance on Monday told Winneshiek County supervisors they have achieved an important first step in getting funds to renovate the Caretaker House at the county home.

Group spokesperson Kari Burns says the building has been accepted as eligible to apply for National Register of Historic Places status. Burns said her organization is making progress in the process of getting funding help for renovations to the Caretaker House.

Up next for the group will be the task of applying for a grant to cover the $1,000 cost of labor to draft a formal application for National Register of Historic Places status. The group faces a May deadline and hopes to hear the results of the grant application this summer or fall.

But that means the Oneota Historic Future Alliance will miss a November 10th deadline imposed by the Winneshiek County Board when it agreed to give control of the building to the group in November of 2008.

Burns admitted the group won't be far enough along in what she called a "slow-moving" application process. County officials delayed any immediate decision on whether to extend the November 10th deadline.