Hocking County approves $120,000 CDBG allocation to back Laurelville and Logan grant applications

The Hocking County Commissioners voted to approve the recommended use of the county's $120,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocation to support two competitive state grant applications: $82,400 to match a Village of Laurelville critical infrastructure application and $37,600 to match a City of Logan neighborhood revitalization (NRG) application. The motion, made by a commissioner and seconded by another commissioner, passed with all commissioners voting in favor.

County staff and representatives from HACAP (Home Assistance Community Action Program) presented the recommended allocations and described project estimates and the application timeline. Nathan Simons, community development coordinator with HACAP, said county staff recommended prioritizing Laurelville's matching request because Murray City was recently funded under the NRG program and Logan still needs additional project estimates. Simons said, "we would recommend that the county provide the requested allocation match to the village of Laurelville." He added that, if the competitive applications are not funded, the county has an alternate plan to use allocation funds on a parks-and-recreation project in Logan.

Why it matters: The county's $120,000 allocation is intended to leverage larger state grant awards. A county commissioner noted during the meeting that successful grant awards could multiply the county's investment: "that can be leveraged to turn it into, you know, 1 and a quarter million dollars," the commissioner said.

Key details and timeline - Laurelville's critical infrastructure project was estimated at $582,400; the state's Critical Infrastructure (CI) grant has a $500,000 ceiling, so Laurelville requested $82,400 from the county allocation as a local match. - Logan's neighborhood revitalization request would use $37,600 of the county allocation as a local match; HACAP staff said Logan intends to apply for the program ceiling of $750,000 from the state. - The county's full allocation pool available for projects is $120,000. HACAP presented these two match requests as a way to fully use the allocation. - The state application portal had just opened and HACAP staff said final applications must be submitted to the state by June 11. Staff asked that project details be finalized by Monday, May 26, so that ad copy for a public notice could run in the Logan Daily on May 27.

Process and contingencies HACAP staff explained that NRG applications rely heavily on documented community participation. The NRG process described at the meeting includes an initial community meeting, surveys of the target neighborhood to rank priorities (parks and recreation, streets, sidewalks, etc.), engineer feasibility reviews, and a second community meeting to refine priorities before final city sign-off. HACAP staff said the city (not the county) must agree to the final list of NRG projects before the county, as applicant, submits the state application on the city's behalf.

Staff noted the competitive nature of the grants and that applications may be unfunded. As an alternate in case the competitive applications are not awarded, HACAP recommended that the county could instead direct allocation funds toward a parks-and-recreation project at Mango Park in Logan, which staff described as easier to scale to match available local funds.

Past funding context HACAP staff told the commissioners that Laurelville last received CDBG funding in program year 2019 and Logan last received CDBG funding in 2017 (for development of East Park). Murray City recently received NRG funding and currently has roughly $920,000 worth of work underway there, staff said.

Next steps Commissioners approved the staff recommendation and instructed staff to proceed with the competitive applications and required public hearings and notices. Final use of the county allocation will depend on whether the state awards the competitive grants; if awards are not made, staff presented alternates for how to spend the allocation locally.

No additional formal amendments were made during the meeting; commissioners said they expected to review the final project lists in a public hearing before the county executes any allocation agreements.