The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors signed off on an Assistance to Firefighters Grant recently awarded to District 3 Volunteer Fire Department Tuesday during its board meeting that will provide the department more than $50,000 for equipment purchases.
District 3 members will now wait for an award confirmation letter before getting quotes to buy a portable cascade unit for air tanks, a light generator, up-to-date automated external defibrillators and training for first responders. The department competed against many others for the funding through the Department of Homeland Security. DHS will provide District 3 with 95 percent of the $54,000 grant while the department matches the other five percent.
Sammy Fondren said all five county fire districts have been awarded an AFG grant at least once during his tenure as county fire services coordinator and county has been awarded a total of about $614,000 in AFG grant money.
Supervisors also granted environmental approval to a project that will bring sustainable building material manufacturer CalStar to a speculative building in the Golden Triangle Industrial Park and authorized the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District to submit a $1.25 million Community Development Block Grant application to the Mississippi Development Authority. The county plans to purchase the building from Agracel and use federal funding to finish construction of the facility and lease it to the company. Golden Triangle Development Link CEO Joe Max Higgins said during a previous board meeting that the company would create at least 58 jobs and possibly up to 100 shortly after it opens for business.
In other business, District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith asked county engineer Bob Calvert to draft a request to add South Lehmberg Road to the Mississippi State Aid Road Program, while District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks said he could bring a request to the board during its May 6 meeting to pursue imminent domain to gain right of way on portions of Old West Point Road the county has not already gained. An impasse with a property owner has kept the county from using MSAR money to make long-due repairs to the road.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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