KC Commissioner’s Office Urges Community Participation During Public Hearing

KC Commissioner’s Office Urges Community Participation During Public Hearing

By Beth Hunolt

The Knox County Commissioners held a public hearing on Friday morning, April 24, 2010 at the courthouse in Edina to discuss the County’s application submission for the FY 2010 Community Development Block Grant. The funds from this grant will be used to replace bridges on four county roads in Knox County including County Road Number 201 northeast of Knox City, County Road Number 304 south of Knox City, County Road Number 135 north of Hurdland on Route J and County Road Number 3 also north of Hurdland.
To be eligible for this grant residents living on the roads the county has considered are in need of the most attention, were asked to complete a simple survey; the Needs Assessment document. The county is required to have eighty percent survey response from the respective areas to submit before May 1st 2010, to be considered for this grant.
The Needs Assessment surveys were mail out April 9th, 2010 and so far the required amount of surveys, for each of the four county roads residents is below the grant’s required eight percentage and the risks of the county not being accepted for the grant is growing.
The Commissioners office urges more community involvement and warns that Knox County has been denied similar grants in the past due to low survey participation. These surveys are vital to the county’s grant eligibility, which will provide over $150,000 for the county’s bridge project.