WOODSFIELD — Additional community projects may come to fruition this year now that the Community Development Block Grant funding that Monroe County may qualify for has increased more than $200,000.

Ohio State University Extension Office Associate Mary Jo Westfall informed the Monroe County Board of Commissioners last week that this year’s available CDBG funding increased from $500,000 to $750,000. The CDBG program helps to improve low-income communities by providing necessary funding to complete various projects. The funding has only gone up twice since it first became available in the 1990s, she said.

Westfall said she wanted to inform Commissioners Mick Schumacher, Tim Price and Carl Davis of the changes to the grant funding prior to the first public meeting on the matter that will be held next month.

“We’ll most likely get another $150,000, like we did before, for the allocation grant,” she said. “We can do up to four projects, that’s not changed.”

On top of the $750,000 for the Neighborhood Revitalization Grant, she expects the county also will be eligible for an additional $150,000 through the Allocation Grant.

“So now we’re talking real money,” she said.

Potts described the difference in the two grants to commissioners.

“Every township and village in the county is eligible for some type of CDBG funding. Now it depends on if it is an area-wide project or if it’s not, or if they have to do (an) income survey.”

A map of Monroe County was provided to commissioners that shows villages and townships and their eligibility for funding for area-wide projects. There are three colors on the map; each color designates which areas qualify for funding, which need an income survey and which do not qualify. Those in red qualify through the Census Bureau and include Seneca Township, Miltonsburg, Beallsville, Woodsfield, and Wayne and Center townships.

“The ones in red, those are the new low- and moderate-income areas that came out last year. The federal government puts out new numbers every five years now, not 10. … Those in red are eligible for the Neighborhood Revitalization Grant,” Westfall said.

Those areas in blue are permitted to do an income survey in an attempt to qualify the project, and those in black are ineligible to do an area-wide project. Westfall said the funding is competitive.

“We have to score high enough to get that $750,000, and so there’s no guarantee of funding on that,” she said.

As long as the county submits its application on time, though, the $150,000 Allocation Grant funds are secure, she said.

“It’s a really good thing,” Westfall said about the potential increase in funding. “We can do some really good projects.”

The previous CDBG funding the county secured aided in multiple projects including paving Knowlton Bridge Road, paving Greenbrier Road in Graysville, the purchase of a new fire truck for the Graysville Volunteer Fire Department, a sidewalk replacement in Graysville, a roof replacement for the Graysville Center and more.

Westfall said she hopes to have additional projects completed with this year’s funding increase, or at least “higher quality projects.”

The first public meeting for the project opening will commence at 10 a.m. Feb. 24 during the commission’s meeting inside the courthouse.

In other matters, OSU Extension Associates Cheryl Goodrich and Denise Potts met with commissioners to inquire about using the department’s office at the courthouse to hold afterhours meetings. The department had been using a room at the public library to conduct its meetings, however the library now charges a $25 fee each time they use the facility.

The issue with using the courthouse after regular hours is that no security officers will be present.

During a phone conference, Sheriff Charles R. Black Jr. indicated his discomfort with allowing the group in the courthouse without an officer present. Commissioners agreed with the sheriff’s recommendation that if the group holds meetings at the courthouse, an officer must be present.

The sheriff’s department is understaffed at the moment, thus those officers required to perform after-hours duty must be compensated at a time-and-a-half rate.

Goodrich said therein lies the issue, as the group is looking for a free or less expensive space to hold its meetings. The discussion will be continued at a later date after the group and commissioners search for alternative available spaces.