August 23, 2022 - The Shelby County Commissioners moved to seek proposals for administrative and engineering services with intents of seeking grant funding toward road work in Timpson during their August 17, 2022, meeting.
The commissioners discussed the issuing of requests for proposals for administrative services (RFP) and requests for qualifications for engineering services (RFQ) for the 2023-2024 Texas Community Development Grant program administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture.
"This is what's commonly referred to as CDBG grants," said Judge Harbison. "There is an opportunity for Shelby County to qualify for $500,000."
Judge Harbison explained Keith Payne with Grantworks brought this opportunity to her attention recently. She explained to the commissioners that when they seek a CDBG grant it has to benefit those in low to moderate income circumstances and certain criteria must be met by the county to be able to receive the grant.
Recently, Judge Harbison has spoken with Commissioner Tom Bellmyer about the potential for the grant and there is a road in Timpson (Rosehill Road) which she said has been in dispute for years.
"The county says it's the city's, the city says it's the county's and it is in a low to moderate neighborhood," said Judge Harbison. "I think this would be a perfect project to fix that road."
Commissioner Bellmyer commented the residents who would benefit would be Timpson residents.
"More than likely if the road project that you're talking about's what you would do, we would do an income survey for the beneficiaries of that road," said Keith Payne. "If it was a main ingress or egress then it would be a citywide, I believe Timpson's LMI (Low to Moderate Income) citywide is above 51% anyway."
Payne stated further elaborated on the grant for the potential project.
"If the beneficiaries of that project is less than 1,500, it's 2% match and then it steps up from there to over $10,000 it maxes out at 15% match," said Payne.
Commissioner McSwain stated a lot of the people on that roadway are in receipt of public assistance.
John Price, Shelby County Attorney, asked about the question of ownership of the road between the city and county. Judge Harbison said it has just always been a dispute between the county and city over responsibility.
Bellmyer suggested entering into an interlocal agreement between the city and the county to move forward with the possible project.
"This is a federal grant, we have to go out for the RFQs on the administrative services, and that's kind of what we're just getting going," said Judge Harbison. "We haven't even applied for it, because we have to get a grant administrator going to help us apply for it."
A motion carried to request proposals for administrative services (RFP) and request for qualifications for engineering services (RFQ) for the 2023-2024 Texas Community Development Grant program administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Judge Allison Harbison stated to the commissioners she has had contact from the Texas Forest Service and they requested the Declaration and Order Prohibiting Outdoor Burning remain in place. They even informed that with the dry conditions, thunderstorms have the potential to start fires from lightning strikes.
A motion carried by the commissioners to leave the burn ban in place.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Pay weekly expenses. 2. Current payroll. 3. Declaration and Order Prohibiting Outdoor Burning. 4. Authorize the issue of requests for proposals for administrative services (RFP) and requests for qualifications for engineering services (RFQ) for the 2023-2024 Texas Community Development Grant program administered by the Texas Department of Agriculture. 5. Adjourn.
