On November 29th, Mayor Sam DeMarco, City Manager Amy Wilson and grant author Debra Herndon traveled to Charleston to receive a grant in the amount of $192,882 for construction of a sidewalk from Lincoln High School to the Subway property, the intersection of Routes 19 and 20. Governor Earl Ray Tomblin presented the grant in a ceremony involving a good many West Virginia entities.
Through the Transportation Alternatives program, successful grant applications must show need for the project, be carefully planned, have community support and have evidence to prove that the 20% match is or will be available. Staff of the West Virginia Department of Transportation carefully review and evaluate the proposed projects to award those which will have the greatest impact.
Herndon stated, “We use Excess Levy Funds for our match. It only makes sense to apply for these grants when we can use only twenty thousand dollars of the Levy funds and get a one hundred thousand dollar project out of it.”
A new Transportation Alternatives project has already had its preliminary review and the full application will be submitted in the next few weeks.
Two of the other grants were recently awarded to the City had their narratives and budgets written by former Community Development Director Reuben Perdue. Ten thousand dollars was awarded by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History toward the construction of a 15’ X 68’ concrete apron in front of the Performance Center at Ferguson Memorial Park as well as a low separation wall. The apron will provide easier access to the performance center, additional space for speakers and other equipment for some performances and additional, more accessible seating during more intimate performances.
The other recently awarded grant provides $10,194.00 towards pool and bathhouse upgrades and was awarded through the West Virginia Department of Commerce from the Land and Water Conservation Fund of the National Park Service. Both the Culture and History grant and the Land and Water Conservation Fund grant require a dollar for dollar match from local funds.
