Mariel Williams
editor@mitchellnews.com
The Mitchell County Board of Commissioners is considering applying for a federal grant to improve public transit infrastructure.
Board members have hesitated to move forward with the application because the funding comes with restrictions and the application process itself is expensive.
County Manager Allen Cook said that he and Sheila Blalock, director of the Mitchell County Transportation Authority, have been looking into whether or not the county might benefit from this grant.
New & and ongoing needs
“With their facility having flooding, also with the mindset that we are kind of looking to get that congestion ... out of this area for transportation — there’s a lot of cars,” Cook said. “Grant funding, federal grant funding, could be used toward finding a location — a site assessment — for transportation. Now this grant study, the assessment, is $33,000 that the county would have to put forward. The typical grant amount is $3 million.”
The $33,000 site assessment goes toward evaluating potential locations in Mitchell County for building a new facility.
Cook said the terms of this grant would require a 20 percent match from state and local sources, meaning the federal government would pay for 80 percent of the project cost, the state of North Carolina would pay for 10 percent of the project cost, and Mitchell County would pay for 10 percent of the project costs.
“So for example, if we get a $3 million grant, then the county would pay $300,000 — that’s their 10 percent — and that $33,000 we used for this assessment, this study on the front end, would be credited toward that $300,000.”
Cook said that there is a concern that the county might shell out $33,000 for the feasibility study and then be denied the grant, leaving the county with nothing to show for the expense. However, he said that the experts he has talked to believe that the county has a strong change of receiving the grant if it applies.
“They feel like Mitchell County has all of the eligibility factors checked that are typically there for counties that get the grant,” he said.
Ongoing concerns
Cook noted that the board discussed this grant application in the summer, before the Transportation Authority’s current facilities were damaged by September floods.
Commissioner Steve Pitman asked if there are significant restrictions on how the grant money is spent.
“Yes — it’s federal money,” Cook said. “It has a lot of process and a lot of statute.”
One issue that has concerned the board is that if the county uses the grant funding to build a new facility for the Transportation Authority, the federal government requires the county to commit to continuing to use that facility for 40 years.
“But getting a brand-new 40-year setup, in the right location in Mitchell County ... it’s an opportunity that you really need to think about,” Cook said.
Cook added that the storm damage probably increases the county’s chances of getting the grant.
Board Chair Jeff Harding asked how long building a new facility under these conditions would take. Cook said the whole process would probably take between two and three years.
“My biggest concern is the length of time, because we didn’t anticipate this storm but it happened, and we need a facility, we need a place,” Harding said. “Two years, two and a half years is a long time to start a project.”
Harding said that he personally was “not comfortable” voting on whether or not to apply at this time.
“I would like to sit down and talk with Sheila,” Commissioner Harley Masters added. “They do need a new facility, but I want to make sure that if we move forward with it that we build it for the future.”
The discussion was tabled till a later meeting.