Nokomis Prepares to Give Away a Downtown Building in Small Business Contest

Montgomery County Board Development & Personnel Committee Meeting | July 6, 2026

Article Summary: Nokomis Community & Economic Development Fellow Audra Elam told the Montgomery County Board Development & Personnel Committee on Monday, July 6, 2026, that a small business competition with a grand prize package including a building will open applications Aug. 1, and that Nokomis is willing to share the program with other communities if it succeeds.

Nokomis Small Business Competition Key Points:

• The prize package includes a building in downtown Nokomis, up to $50,000 in matching grant funds toward building rehabilitation, up to $7,000 in in-kind donations of labor and services, and access to Enterprise Zone benefits.
• Applications open Aug. 1. Applicants must be 18 or older, be starting a for-profit small business or expanding an existing one, and demonstrate access to a sufficient funding source.
• Elam told the committee that if the program is successful, Nokomis is willing to share it with other communities.
• The minutes describe the competition as one the city is launching; the program’s own flyer says it is hosted by Newkomis, described there as a local non-profit organization.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — The prize is a building.

Nokomis Community & Economic Development Fellow Audra Elam used the public comment period at the Montgomery County Board Development & Personnel Committee’s meeting on Monday, July 6, 2026, to describe a small business competition with a grand prize package that includes a building, according to the minutes. The application period opens Aug. 1, and if successful, Nokomis is willing to share the program with other communities.

A flyer for the competition is among the committee’s handouts, and it fills in what the minutes do not. Headed “SMALL BUSINESS COMPETITION & BUILDING GIVE-AWAY,” it lists a four-part prize package: a building located in downtown Nokomis; up to $50,000 in matching grant funds toward building rehabilitation; up to $7,000 of in-kind donations of labor and services; and access to Enterprise Zone benefits.

Three requirements govern who may apply. An applicant must be 18 or older. An applicant must be an entrepreneur starting a for-profit small business or expanding an existing small business. And an applicant must demonstrate access to a sufficient funding source.

That third condition does real work. A free building with a $50,000 rehabilitation match is not a free building — a matching grant requires the recipient to put up money of their own, and the flyer’s own arithmetic assumes an applicant who can. The flyer does not state the match ratio.

Who Is Running It

Here the record is not consistent with itself. The minutes describe the competition as one “the city is launching.” The flyer says “HOSTED BY NEWKOMIS,” and describes Newkomis as a local non-profit organization on a mission to preserve, maintain, and improve the quality of life in Nokomis.

A city and a local nonprofit are not the same actor, and the difference matters to anyone trying to work out who owns the building, who administers the money, and who decides the winner. This newspaper cannot resolve it from the documents before the committee, and does not attempt to.

The flyer directs prospective applicants to follow on Facebook to learn more, and carries a QR code. It gives no address for the building, no deadline, no judging criteria and no contact name.

What the County Has to Do With It

Nothing, on this record. Elam spoke during public comments, the first item on the committee’s agenda. No motion was made, no county money was discussed in connection with the competition, and the committee took no action.

The reference to Enterprise Zone benefits is the one point of contact with county business — the Enterprise Zone is among the departments reporting to the County Board through its consent agenda. The minutes do not describe what benefits a winner would receive or who would grant them.

Nokomis has appeared in the county’s record repeatedly this month on other fronts.