HOMER — The Banks County Commission voted Monday to pursue money set aside through the U.S Economic Development Administration’s FY18 Disaster Supplemental Notice of Funding Opportunity.
During a called meeting, the commission heard from Banks County Economic Developer Hannah Mullins that disaster funding is available because the county was included in a Presidential Disaster Declaration resulting from Hurricane Irma.
That $587 million is available to eligible grantees in communities where a Presidential declaration of a major disaster was issued under the Stafford Act resulting from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, wildfires and other natural disasters in 2017.
Mullins said while there is no set application deadline, she has been told already there are more applicants than funds, but not all applications have been reviewed yet. Mullins said she is hopeful additional money might be placed into the funding opportunity to cover more projects.
The 80/20 grant means the county is responsible for 20 percent of the total project cost if successful in being awarded the grant.
Unlike other EDA programs, funding is the disaster program is not based on the number of jobs that would be created as a result of the proposed projects.
Rather, demonstrating how the project would make the jurisdiction more resilient to future natural disasters is an important consideration.
Mullins said Banks County’s growth currently is restricted by schools that don’t have the septic capacity to expand. Similarly, the county jail is at or near capacity and can’t be expanded until the septic capacity is improved.
“Currently I believe the school system here in Banks County is maxed out on their expansion space for future students, so what we’ve gathered is as they take on new students their ability to expand is taken up in their septic system,” Mullins told AccessWDUN after Monday’s called meeting. “The septic system is also older, and it’s taken quite a bit of dollars and funds to keep it going. It’s kind of the same with the jail; they’re in the same predicament.”
Mullins said relative proximity of county facilities should help the county’s case for funding, as well as letters of support from the school system, sheriff’s office and Town of Homer.
“All of the schools, all of the county facilities, all of that up through here in Homer, they’re all on septic systems,” Mullins said. “The reason the Development Authority is involved is because to do industrial growth or any kind of development, obviously the county is going to grow a little bit from that. The school being the heartbeat of what I do for economic development, it’s very important that we support them, and that’s why I’ve been on the lookout for this grant. We just happened to find a grant that would offer us some allowance to apply for in order to try to get some funding for this project, because it is a substantial, substantial project.”
The total proposed sewer project cost is $4.87 million, and the county would pay $974,800 of that amount if the grant is received, meaning the grant would total $3.899 million.
Mullins said the proposed project would travel from the wastewater treatment plant near the Atlanta Dragway on U.S. 441 at Banks Crossing along McDonald Circle onto Historic Homer Highway all the way into downtown Homer.
“South end, it will go from the plant down there at the drag strip and it will go north up Historic Homer Highway, so you’ll pick up the high school and it’s going to go up to and pick up the elementary school, the primary school, and it will go all the way up to the courthouse and pick up the courthouse,” Mullins said. “Then, it will also come down Thompson Street and it will pick up the recreation department, the health department, the adult learning center, the senior center, the [courthouse] annex of course, and then it will go across to the jail and pick up that and the DFCS building, so there are quite a few buildings and entities that will be impacted by this.”
Banks County Middle School on Thompson Street also would be covered by the proposed project, that would include two sewer lift stations.
“You know, gentlemen, it makes good common sense to me that if we can get a grant that will pay for 80 percent of something we’ve been looking for and talking about then the county only pays 20 percent, that’s kind of a no-brainer for me,” Commission Chairman Jimmy Hooper told commissioners.
Commissioner Sammy Reece made the motion to pursue the grant, with Commissioner Danny Maxwell seconding and all commissioners voting in favor.
Monday’s vote included approval to apply for the grant funding, approval to commit the $974,800 (20-percent) local match if the grant is awarded, and approval for Hooper to sign the related documents.
Mullins said she isn’t sure of a possible timetable for knowing whether the county’s grant application is approved.
“I feel like since we were impacted here in Banks County so heavily to be in Northeast Georgia by Irma, that may also help our case,” Mullins said. “I feel like we’ve got a pretty strong argument.”
