T-L Photo/CARRI GRAHAM Amy Zwick, left, Monroe County engineer, speaks with the county commissioners about potential funding for a few new vehicles on Monday. Also pictured is Commissioner Mick Schumacher.

WOODSFIELD — The Monroe County Engineer’s Office is hoping to receive a grant in the amount of $150,000 in order to aid in the purchase of multiple vehicles.

Engineer Amy Zwick discussed the potential grant and a loan with the county commissioners at last week’s regularly scheduled meeting. Zwick said she had submitted an application for the funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, out of Marietta.

“I’ve been talking to USDA about the possibility of funding, again, with another grant/loan program,” she said.

A partial amount of the funds needed will potentially be provided through a grant, while the remaining amount will be through a loan that the engineer’s office will take on, she said.

The county’s engineer office is in need of three dump trucks equipped with plows, Zwick said. Each truck will cost about $150,000 for a fully equipped vehicle with plow, a total of $450,000 for all three vehicles, she said. However, the grant will only cover up to $150,000, Zwick said.

“We’re not going to do all three trucks if we can’t get the full $150,000 in grant (funding), because we can’t afford to do it,” she said.

Zwick said the funds will come from a Declaration of Disasters fund that contains $4.9 million.

“Because we’ve had our fair share of declaration of disaster events in this area and other counties, the USDA has been given a pot of money to dedicate toward those areas who have been declared disaster areas here in recent months, year,” she said.

Typically USDA has a maximum of $50,000 for grant funding, Zwick explained. However, due to the large amount of funding available, she hopes to receive the full amount of $150,000.

Zwick said she has alerted other entities and townships about the funds.

“We’re all in this together. If you can use a piece of equipment, you can apply for this (funding),” she said.

If the grant will only cover $50,000, the department will purchase only one vehicle per year, Zwick said.

“We could use three trucks right now, so I’m hoping they’ll pull through instead of making us wait,” she said.

Commissioner Tim Price asked how long it would be until the office would receive the vehicles. Unfortunately, Zwick said the department would not receive the trucks in time for winter this year.

“By the time you go through this process, and even if we ordered the trucks today, we wouldn’t have them until late, late winter. So we’re not counting on them for this winter,” she said.

Zwick said the department could already use the vehicles, so the sooner it can obtain the trucks, the better.