Lone resident attends public hearing for grant

<p>Danisha Hogue/News Tribune</p><p>Attendance at the Russellville Community Development Block Grant hearing June 27 included city officials, area Boy Scouts and resident Russell Wilson.</p>

Danisha Hogue/News Tribune

Attendance at the Russellville Community Development Block Grant hearing June 27 included city officials, area Boy Scouts and resident Russell Wilson.

RUSSELLVILLE, Mo. - One resident attended a Russellville public hearing June 27 to discuss the needs of the city. The Board of Alderman is working with Mid-Missouri Regional Planning Commission while applying for grants for city improvements.

Stormwater drainage and street improvements were identified as the top priority, a slight shift from the Sept. 20 needs assessment meeting for the application.

Resident Russell Wilson asked if those titles, previously identified as first and second on the needs, could be combined to make room for another title.

The submitted top five needs were sanitary sewer treatments, law enforcement and code enforcement, business opportunities and demolition of dangerous buildings.

In an effort to fund those improvements, the city is seeking a Community Development Block Grant. Lincoln Brown, regional planner and grant writer, said CDBG funds a wide variety of projects.

Since March, the city has tried to obtain 175 responses to an income survey needed for the grant application. To qualify for the grant, 51 percent or more of residents need to fit in the low- to moderate-income range.

CDBG defines low to moderate income for a family of one to earn no more than $40,050; the maximum qualifying income for a four-person household is $57,200.

"We need an 80 percent response rate for that survey," Brown said. "I think we're at about 70 percent response rate, so we only need about 26 more surveys to complete the preliminary numbers for that."

Brown said 139 surveys have been returned as of Monday. That date put the city at a 71 percent response rate.

Responses for the survey can be used for additional projects for the next three years. A total needs list included in the application has $2.3 million of projects.

The city received a $220,000 Cole County Commission grant in August for reconstruction of Marion Street, including sidewalk work. Mayor Sharon Morgan said the city does have funds to add for the project.

"The city proposes to contribute $7,000 in cash, $220,000 in grant funds from the Cole County Small Community Program, $500 in-time labor by city crews with grant funds of $500,000 needed to make up the balance," Morgan said.

East Ward Alderwoman Sharon Williams said she went door to door in May to gain more signatures. Many residents were welcoming, she said. The deadline to apply for the grant is July 31.

After the meeting, Morgan said she believed the meeting went well; however, she wished more town people would have attended.