County Commission Allocates $4.3 Million at Special Called Meeting
The Hardeman County Commission met for a special called meeting on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, to allocate available grant money from the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC). The amounts presented for approval to the commissioners were approved by the American Rescue Plan (ARP) committee the previous evening.
The November 1, 2022, application deadline is quickly approaching and cities are eager to get their share. At the Tuesday, September 20, 2022, commission meeting, Joe Barker and Melissa Davis of the Southwest Tennessee Development District spoke about the grants for water, waste water, and storm water. Municipality mayors and others representatives had also attended and presented their needs to the commission.
When questioned about how they decided to distribute the funds, ARP Committee Chairman and Commissioner Bobby Wright said they used the municipality’s report card, engineer layout, severity of each situation, the needs of the cities, and “hoped it was the best for everybody”.
“We tried to be fair as fair as we could,” said Wright. “Some got close to what they wanted. Some did not get close, but they said they could work with it.”
Commissioner Brad Grantham asked each applicant to personally verify they could afford to pay upfront for these improvements while waiting 90 days for reimbursement through the grant. All proposed grant recipients verbally verified they had the funds.
“I hope all of you have done your homework!” said Commissioner Bobby Hensley who expressed concern over the municipalities ability to afford the required depreciation needs for repairs and replacement on the improvements.
Commissioner Gilliam asked for each mayor to sign the “approved by” to have it on record as he emphasized we’re “talking about a lot of money”.
A clause was added stating if it is determined a municipality is not able to do the work, the money will be returned to the commission giving it the authority to redistribute the funds as it determines.
All commissioners voted in favor of allocating the following amounts to be distributed:
Bolivar – $1,250,918.20
Grand Junction – $950,000.00
Middleton – $900,000.00
Whiteville – $639,000.00
Toone – $50,000.00
Grand Valley – $600,000.00
TOTAL: $4,389,918.20
All of the recipients expressed their appreciation for the commissioners work at allocating the funds.
Commissioner Wright also commended the ARP board and the mayors.
“It couldn’t have been better unity of the county coming together last night. I appreciate that,” said Wright.
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