Mundelein business awarded $4,500 village grant

A Mundelein business that makes dietary supplements for dogs has been awarded a $4,500 municipal grant to help pay for a facility improvement.

Mount Ara, 750 Tower Road, intents to install rubberized curtains to separate zones within its facility, documents indicate. The work is expected to cost nearly $9,000.

The village funds will come from Mundelein’s Stimulate, Training, Assist and Recover program, or STAR program. Launched in 2022 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the STAR program makes grants of up to $5,000 available to business owners. Grants cover up to half the total cost of an improvement project and are paid out after work is completed.

Mount Ara is seeking Good Manufacturing Practices Certification, which indicates a facility making products such as pharmaceuticals, foods and cosmetics adheres to stringent quality standards, according to gmpcertifcation.org.

The curtains will help the company prevent product contamination by separating raw and finished goods in temperature-controlled areas, according to a memo from Mundelein Community Development Director Amanda Orenchuk and Senior Planner Isabel Guadarrama. That’s a key component of certification.

Certification will lead to jobs being created within the company, the memo states.

The village board approved the grant Monday without discussion or opposition. Trustee Erich Schwenk was absent.

The grant for Mount Ara leaves $4,000 remaining of the grant program’s $10,000 budget for the rest of the fiscal year. Grants of up to $5,000 are available.

The STAR program is more modest than the village's Business Incentive Grant program, which offers larger grants and has a $225,000 annual budget.

To learn more about the grant programs, visit mundelein.org.