The Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments is starting to receive word on the status of grants it has written from the state, with the first beneficiary of some good news being Worth County.
The NWMRCOG and Worth County were recently notified that three grants for bridges in the Allen Township of Worth County totaling $136,388 were approved for funding through the first round of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Supplemental Funding, NWMRCOG Executive Director Tye Parsons said. Those grants were submitted in January for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
The funding Worth County was awarded comes from funds that aren't typically awarded each year. That funding comes from supplemental funds aimed at repairs from past flooding, Parsons said.
The council has several other grants submitted for a second round of CDBG Disaster Funding. Grants for three bridges in Nodaway County are among those being considered. Parsons said the council could find out those later this summer.
Because of cuts in bridge and road maintenance across the state, the grants can have an impact on how county officials are able to maintain bridges, Worth County Presiding Commissioner Kevin Austin said.
"A huge impact actually," Austin said. "If we didn't have this kind of stuff, we'd be closing bridges.
"These are ones that were older bridges. They weren't to ... where we were going to have to close them, but they were in dire need of repairs."
Grants come with guidelines about how and when projects are to be carried out. When those guidelines are established, the county will be able to set a timeline. But most likely, work on the bridges won't begin until 2010, Austin said.
In addition to the supplemental funds, there are CDBG funds that are normally available on a yearly basis. In conjunction with Nodaway County and city officials, the council has submitted several grants that could have an impact locally. The council submitted grants totaling $4,277,138 from January to May.
CDBG funds are administered by the state, but are actually federal funds. Because of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, the awarding of these competitive funds is behind what would be normal in a typical year, Parsons said.
"We're still waiting to hear," Parsons said. "It just takes a while, especially this year, it's just taking longer than usual for the state to make their announcements on the grants. We're waiting anxiously."
The NWMRCOG serves five counties in northwest Missouri: Atchison, Gentry, Holt, Nodaway and Worth. The services they provide — including grant writing — are an invaluable resource, Austin said.
"You can't say enough about what they do for northwest Missouri. You can't give Tye enough kudos for what he does — and his staff and everybody around him that does these grants for us. If it wasn't for them I don't know what we would actually do in this area," Austin said. "They should be applauded for everything that they do."
Maryville, Mo. —
