Whitfield County approves five grant applications, seeks ARC funding for West Industrial safety project

At its July 14 meeting, the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners approved a package of five grant applications and acceptances that county staff said will fund road-safety and criminal-justice diversion programs. The county unanimously approved applying for an Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant to help pay for an intersection and safety project on West Industrial Boulevard / South Dixie; county staff described the project as a roughly $4.2 million undertaking and said ARC funding would cover roughly half if awarded. "We already have that in our SPLOST, so we can make our SPLOST dollars go further if we can get the ARC to help fund roughly half of it, of the 4,200,000.0," the county said in the meeting record. The commissioners voted 4–0 to accept the slate of grants, which also included: - A juvenile delinquency diversion grant the county has received in previous years; officials said it provides funding to divert youth from detention. - A drug-court grant to support the county's drug court program and its participants. - A mental-health court grant the county expects to operate in cooperation with neighboring Murray County to help with match requirements. - An accepted Safer Streets award the county previously applied for; staff said the study and potential improvements are focused on Reed Road and the nearby four-way intersection. A motion to consider the five grants as a package was made by Commissioner Robbins and passed 4–0. County staff told commissioners that matches and SPLOST allocations are in the county plan and that the projects will proceed whether or not every grant is awarded. Ending: The ARC application, if successful, would reduce the county's SPLOST-funded share of the West Industrial safety project; the other awards will extend existing diversion and court programs into the next fiscal year starting July 1.