“Excellent news” is how Clinton County Judge/Executive Lyle Huff termed some recent news that will allow a county worthwhile project to be taken “off the back burner” and put front and center when it comes to being able to apply for grant funds.

Anna Whites, an attorney with the Lake Cumberland Community Action Agency, who is working with the county and Lake Cumberland Area Development District on applying for funds for a local Veterans’ Center, informed Judge Huff on June 8 that it appeared that DLG (Department of Local Government) would let both the Veterans Center project and the city’s new fire station project apply for CDBG funding without having to compete with each other.

At the May meeting of Clinton Fiscal Court, Albany Mayor Nicky Smith was on hand to discuss the proposed fire department building and a location for it. At that meeting, fiscal court members agreed to allow property between the Wellness Center and Air Evac to be used for the fire department’s new facility, contingent upon the city receiving funding for the project.

During that meeting, Judge Huff, along with Attorney Whites, also discussed the proposed assisted living area, or Veterans’ Center project, the county was going to apply for. However, usually when two government entities in the same county or city have more than one project to apply for, one will take precedence over the other and in many cases, one entity will basically have to wait for another round of grant funding before applying for a particular project.

Whites, however, informed Judge Huff that she had spoken with Judy Keltner, community development specialist with the AD district and that she (Keltner) had indicated the Department of Local Government may, in fact, allow the application for a CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) for both projects.

At the meeting last month, Judge Huff noted the county would be applying for the veterans project in the future, but stated he was willing to let the city be the lead with its fire station project since that city volunteer department basically services all of the city and county.

In her correspondence with Judge Huff, Whites did say “there are certain requirements to keep the city out of the county application, etc.,” but added she felt they could work within those requirements by modifying their proposal and agreed the AD District could help her office move forward on the Veterans’ Center project.

Judge Huff, in a brief interview with the Clinton County News last Friday, said the application process for the county project has begun.

When asked the chances of the county being awarded CDBG grant money for the project, Huff said “I am very confident that funds will be garnered (for the project.)” He did add, however, that it may take some time for all the money necessary to come into play, but further added that with the expertise from both the Community Action Agency and AD District, the project would move forward, hopefully, within a year’s time.

Mayor Smith also said last week that the fire department project the city is applying for CDBG funds from is also in the works, albeit still in the early stages. But he remains confident the project can be funded.

A major reason for the necessity of moving the fire department facility to another location is the traffic congestion problems in the general area of its current location off Nolan Street near the new Dollar General Market. With the influx of several different businesses locating in the area, fire department vehicles have more ingress and egress difficulty in times of fire runs or other emergency responses.

In discussing the positive news that both the fire department and Veterans’ Center project could both now move forward with grant fund applications without competing against each other, Judge Huff noted the cooperation between the city, county, Community Action Agency, Area Development District and others in making both projects a possibility in becoming a reality.

The Veterans’ Center, or what was referred to earlier as an assisted living area for local veterans, could greatly assist several of the over 800 veterans who now reside in Clinton County.

As previously reported, a third project that would be beneficial to all residents, city and county, is that of constructing “safe rooms” for residents to go to in the event of severe weather or other natural disaster situations. Most county officials are confident that grant funds for such safe room areas will be awarded.