DeKalb County Awarded $500,000 CDBG Grant

DeKalb County has been awarded a $500,000 Community Development Block grant from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
The purpose of the grant is to help fund extension of water lines to a portion of the county in need. The county applied for the grant on behalf of
the DeKalb Utility District which will actually be providing the service. The DUD will also be allocating a $120,000 grant match to help fund the
project.
The formal grant presentation was made Wednesday, October 12 at the State Capitol to DUD Board member Jimmy Womack and DUD Manager Jon Foutch by Governor Bill Haslam, State Representatives Terri Lynn Weaver and Mark Pody, and Ted Townsend, Chief Operating Officer for the Department of Economic and Community Development. Amanda Mainord of Grassroots Planning & Consulting, the grant administrator for the project, and Buddy Koonce of Goodwin, Mills, Cawood, the DUD’s utility engineer were also on hand for the presentation.
The project is to serve 40 or more households including at least 140 residents on Tramel Branch, Oakley Road, Carter Lane, Old Givens Hollow, and the Alexandria to Dismal Road. “This grant will be used for people in these areas who have to haul water or who have bad wells. It will provide much needed water services and a better way of life for them,” Foutch told WJLE.
Although funding is now available, Foutch cautions residents in the area to be patient in that the actual work won’t begin until probably the middle
part of 2017.
Foutch said he would like to thank all those who helped make this grant possible including the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community
Development; Governor Bill Haslam; State Representaives Terri Lynn Weaver and Mark Pody; the DeKalb Utility District Board of Commissioners; Buddy Koonce, the DUD’s utility engineer; County Mayor Tim Stribling; the DeKalb County Commission, and Amanda Mainord of Grassroots Planning and Consulting, the grant writer.
PICTURED ABOVE: Ted Townsend, Chief Operating Officer for the Department of Economic and Community Development; Buddy Koonce of Goodwin, Mills, Cawood, the DUD’s utility engineer; State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver; Amanda Mainord of Grassroots Planning & Consulting; DUD Board member Jimmy Womack; DUD manager Jon Foutch; State Representative Mark Pody; and Governor Bill Haslam.