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Residents urge completion of William A. Stevens project as commissioners weigh a required local match
Summary
Public commenters and several commissioners pressed the board not to return $4.6 million in federal funds for the William A. Stevens project; commissioners directed staff to collect the grant application, timeline and Federal contacts and return with options for meeting the local match or negotiating alternatives.
Dorothy Fagg Thomas and other residents urged the Gadsden County Board of County Commissioners to complete the long‑promised William A. Stevens School project rather than return roughly $4.6 million in federal funds, arguing the site serves community needs and carries historic significance.
Commission discussion revealed uncertainty about the exact local match the county previously committed to: staff and attorneys noted different figures in the archive (one grant letter referenced $1,700,000 while current briefings cited $1,500,000). Commissioners said the county accepted the grant in an earlier administration and asked staff to retrieve the original application, the county commitment letter and the grant timeline.
After extensive exchange about past submittals, program timelines and practical hurdles (including EPA reviews and cultural resource/Indian‑lands clearances), the board voted to direct the administrator and county attorney to gather the grant documents, federal contacts and a clear timeline and report back quickly; commissioners also asked staff to explore political remedies or technical fixes that could preserve the funding.
What happens next: staff will provide the commission with the grant application, commitment letter(s), required match amount(s) and contact points by an expedited date so the board can decide whether to proceed with the required local match, seek an extension, or pursue alternate financing.
