DeKalb County intends to submit a new application for a CDBG grant next year which if approved would fund an extension of water lines to certain areas of the county.
A public hearing will be held on Thursday October 9th at 6:30 p.m. in the downstairs courtroom of the courthouse to give residents in the targeted area another chance to express their desire for water services.
During Monday night’s county commission meeting, County Mayor Tim Stribling said the most recent application for grant funding was denied.
In a letter to Stribling dated Wednesday, September 3, Brooxie Carlton, Director of federal programs for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development wrote that “I regret to inform you that your application for the 2014 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) did not score high enough to be awarded a grant. Please consider revising your application and resubmitting it next year. ECD will be happy to discuss your application and the scoring process with you,” she wrote.
“The cutoff on the scoring was 194. DeKalb County’s scoring fell in at 191 which is three points below the cutoff. I met with Amanda Mainord who wrote the grant and Jon Foutch from the DeKalb Utility District and we made a phone call to the director of the (program) and asked how the county could improve on its scoring. She mentioned that under project impact only ten percent of the wells had to be tested but she recommended testing 35% of the wells to try and get the project impact (scores) up. I talked to DUD and they will want to submit this grant (application) again after the first of the year. A public hearing will be here in the basement of the courthouse on Thursday, October 9 at 6:30 p.m. concerning this grant. We’ll just have to go through the process again. Every household in the area will be sent a letter explaining this grant and the date for the public hearing,” said Stribling.
In February, the DeKalb Utility District Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution seeking a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant for DUD to run water line extensions to areas of the county in need. The County Commission approved the same resolution at the January meeting to make application for the grant on behalf of the DUD.
During the January County Commission meeting Amanda Mainord of Grassroots Planning & Consulting, grant administrator, said the project would have served thirty eight households on Tramel Branch, Oakley Road, Carter Lane, Old Givens Hollow, and the Alexandria to Dismal Road.
The DUD would have been responsible for paying the grant’s local 20% matching requirement or $96,000 plus any additional funds required to complete the project.