Giles County approves application for $500,000 historic-preservation courthouse grant with 30% local match

Giles County commissioners voted to apply for a Tennessee ECD Historic Development Grant that would provide up to $500,000 for historic preservation work at the county courthouse. County executive Stowe told commissioners the grant requires a 30% local match and confirmed the program’s limits: "It's $500,000. There's a match, 30% match," he said during the meeting.

The county described the application as focused on historic preservation rather than mechanical upgrades. Stowe and staff said the grant package was submitted Nov. 7 and that some items (porch elevations for accessibility) may require separate review by historic-preservation reviewers; there are no construction drawings yet for those elements.

During discussion Miss Portia asked specifically whether raising the east porch to match first-floor elevation would be included; staff said that detail has not been drawn and that historic-preservation reviewers might exclude it, but that other work could move forward without that element. Commissioners also raised courthouse-security needs during related agenda items; one commissioner asked whether the courthouse basement (handicapped) entrance would be addressed in future work.

The county also noted related local funding capacity from recent site-development work reported by the county economic-development council: EDC director Mister Reese said the site-development grant work is complete and "we're gonna have probably around $400,000 left over" that could be repurposed for marketing, signage or additional engineering work on properties the county wants to market to industry.

Next steps: the commission approved the resolution to apply for the Tennessee ECD grant and staff said they will move ahead with the matching plan and follow any requirements from the grant administrator; final scope and any construction drawings will be developed if the award is received.