Mississippi Fox Levee District Receives Repair Grant
Mississippi Fox Levee District Receives Repair Grant
JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Matt Blunt today announced that two Missouri levee districts have been approved for a total of $293,010 in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The CDBG funding will assist these levee districts to meet the 20 percent matching funds required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin levee repair in these districts.
“We have been a proactive partner helping families and communities as they recover from flood damages,” Gov. Blunt said. “Missouri has been continuously struck by natural disasters and these resources will help us continue our strong support for these communities so they can begin vital levee repairs.”
Clark County has been approved for a $134,510 CDBG on behalf of the Mississippi Fox Levee District.
Lewis County has been approved for a $158,500 CDBG on behalf of Union Township Drainage District.
The CDBG program, administered by the Missouri Department of Economic Development, provides grants and loan funds to cities with a population under 50,000 and counties under 200,000 to assist in a variety of public works and economic development projects.
When asked about the grant, Mississippi Fox Levee District Secretary Joe Biggerstaff had these comments, “The significance of the grant is that the levee is an 80% Corps of Engineers levee and 20% our levee. That translates to us having to pay 20% of the costs of making the repairs to the levee. The district certainly did not have those kinds of funds to do that. We found out that grants were available and Dave Davison of Northeast Missouri Regional Planning met with us numerous times and helped us in filling out the grant application. When we found out that we had been approved we were thrilled. As anyone who has property protected by a levee knows, when that levee is no longer there it changes everything such as rebuilding or putting crops in. I mean a big rain upstream and you can be flooded again without the protection of the levee. The Mississippi Fox Levee District has five breaks in the 28 miles of levee.
We met with the Corps of Engineers on Friday, November 21 and they took our paperwork back with them and if the Colonel who approves the project signs that paperwork that work could begin very soon. The bid applications were to go out last Thursday (November 14) and originally, the bids were to be awarded on November 24. But we were told that right now it’s unknown when the bids will be opened. But our work in kind may very well begin this week. It’s also unknown when the work will be completed and the weather will play a major role. However, this grant played a major role in our paying for the work.”
