MARIETTA - The Washington County commissioners signed a resolution Thursday that prioritizes projects to be funded with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money.
The resolution they signed indicates $20,000 will go toward the administration of the program, $5,000 will go toward the fair housing program, $56,200 will go to the Fearing Volunteer Fire Department, $32,900 will go to the Village of Beverly, $11,300 will be used for lifts for swimming pools in New Matamoras and Lowell and $34,600 will go to the Village of Macksburg.
Commissioner Cora Marshall said there is a process for prioritizing projects.
"First we looked at what would be eligible for CDBG and then we narrow it down to that," she said. "Then we take into consideration how many townships have been funded in the past and this time it was a lot easier to select because we had fewer projects submitted."
"And the new rules are we're only allowed to select four projects and our allocation was to be around $160,000," said Commissioner Tim Irvine.
The commissioners previously said Wesley Township would receive CDBG money for replacing culverts, but Marshall said that is no longer the case.
"It has to meet low to moderate income or ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements but they don't have to meet the low to moderate income requirements if it's ADA," she said. "We were wanting to do the Bartlett culverts but several of the roads did not meet the low to moderate income (requirement) so we had to pull that project and we did Fearing Volunteer Fire Department."
The projects must still be approved by the Ohio Department of Development. The money will potentially be used for sidewalk improvements in Beverly, the installation of handicapped accessible restrooms at Macksburg's village hall and expansion of the basketball court and fence installation at Macksburg's park.
The Fearing Volunteer Fire Department would use the money to install handicapped accessible restrooms at the fire station.
