By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
COLUMBUS, Kan. — A grant through the federal stimulus program will allow the Cherokee County Commission to buy three foreclosed houses from a county bank.
Nancy Lamb, deputy emergency management director for the county, provided information Monday about that grant and other grants on which she has been working.
Lamb said the $180,000 grant is through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, offered through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She said the program was established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. According to the program’s Web site, it was established to stabilize communities that have suffered from foreclosures and abandonment.
The grant will allow the county to buy three foreclosed houses, one in Columbus and two in Galena, thereby helping a county bank. The houses are owned by American Bank, based in Baxter Springs.
Lamb said the county commissioners thought it was important that a local bank benefit from the grant.
“They wanted it to benefit our county first,” she said in a conversation after her meeting with the commissioners.
Lamb said the grant includes money to repair and refurbish the houses. After that, the commission may decide to sell the houses or donate them to a nonprofit group.
Lamb said the engineering phase of a grant-funded project to stabilize the viaduct on old Route 66 at Galena has been completed. The next step will be to apply for the second phase of the grant, which would allow for rehabilitation to start.
The National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program awarded the grant in 2008. It includes $30,000 from the National Park Service and a $50,000 local match.
The 216-foot-long structure was built in 1922 and 1923 to serve the mining industry, and it was incorporated into Route 66 in 1926. The viaduct was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Grants through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development agency are paying for two new storm warning sirens in Mineral Township and one in Treece.
The cost of the two sirens in Mineral Township, paid by the grant, is $34,000. Lamb said the sirens will be placed in the Stipville community and at the Scammon Express Lane convenience store. She said the Scammon siren can be heard in Roseland.
The cost of the Treece siren is around $18,000. Lamb said that though the residents of the town are seeking a federal buyout, the siren can be heard at nearby housing developments. That siren was installed Monday.
Lamb and Jason Allison, emergency management director, have made writing grant applications part of their duties with the county.
“It’s job security,” Lamb said.
Commissioner Pat Collins, speaking outside the meeting, said the grant awards that Lamb and Allison have brought to the county have been a big help, especially in the slow economy. He said both earn their pay.
More grants
Nancy Lamb, deputy Cherokee County emergency management director, said she hopes to pursue other grants for storm warning sirens in Riverton, Hallowell and Carona.
