Governor announces more than $800,000 in grants in DeKalb County
FORT PAYNE, Ala.—Gov. Robert Bentley visited Fort Payne on Monday to announce more than $800,000 in federal grants awarded through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to the Dekalb County area. ADECA grants were awarded to the towns of Rainsville, Fort Payne, and Sylvania while ARC grants were awarded to improve science and outdoor education opportunities in the Fort Payne area.
Gov. Bentley, having twice served as chairman of the Appalachian Regional Commission said that he enjoys traveling the state to see how grants are being used. “I travel all over the State of Alabama doing this,” Bentley said. “ And each of the grants we are here to announce today go to one purpose—to help the lives of people. That is what I think is so important about these CDBG grants and ARC grants. We are in the business of helping people. That is why I’m the governor, to help people. That is why the men and women here—the legislators, mayors, city council, county commission members—are here to help the people. That is why I’ve always said the best government is local government.”
The City of Rainsville was awarded a $28,000.00 grant to develop a plan to manage growth and plan the city’s future. The program will help the city establish policy involving transportation, infrastructure, utilities, and capital improvements, as well as economic development and tourism. The city is providing $12,000 in local funding.
Rainsville Mayor Nick Jones said long-term planning has been a top priority of his administration. “We are a young city,” Jones said. “And with this planning it is exciting to be setting the stage and tone for the economic future of Rainsville and what will hopefully be the next 40-50 years of growth in our city.”
The cities of Fort Payne and Sylvania were awarded ADECA Community Development Block Grants to complete repairs to their sewer systems. In Fort Payne, the $450,000 grant will be used to fix aging clay sewer lines in a nine-block area, while the city is committing $100,000 to the project.
In Sylvania, the $326,000 grant and $32,600 contributed by the town will replace more than 5500 feet of sewer pipe in Meadowbrook Mobile Home Park, which was poorly designed by a developer in the 1980’s.
“We are a very small town with less than 2,000 people,” Sylvania Mayor Emily Wooten said. “We only have a small sewer system compared to larger cities like Fort Payne and Rainsville, but we are dealing with some of the same issues with rainwater infiltration. This money will go to greatly improve the problems and issues we’ve been facing. Thank you.”
Grants totaling $150,000 were awarded to One World Adventure, a non-profit organization, and the Fort Payne city school system for upgrading facilities used for science and outdoor education. $100,000 will allow One World Adventure to renovate the former Quinn Hotel building, which was donated to the organization. This will serve as a hub for environmental education activities and a headquarters for programs around Little River Canyon and Desoto State Park. $50,000 of this grant will be utilized to renovate Fort Payne High School’s science and chemistry lab, which was built 50 years ago, allowing the school to teach more advanced chemistry, physics, and science classes.
Bentley praised the office of U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt for assisting in securing the federal funds for Alabama and ADECA for distributing them in DeKalb County. Bentley also commended the action of local legislators, Alabama Sen. Steve Livingston and Rep. Nathaniel Ledbetter for voting in the Alabama Legislature to match the funds from the federal government with state funds. He also expressed his gratitude to the local elected officials involved in the process to improve their communities.”
