County to Apply for $315,000 CDBG Grant

January 25, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The County Commission Monday night gave formal approval of a resolution to apply for a $315,000 Community Development Block Grant to fund the purchase of a tanker truck for the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department.

The CDBG program is administered by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and DeKalb County is eligible to apply under the CDBG Community Livability category including the three star bonus. If approved the county would be responsible for payment of a local grant match of 16% of the total project cost plus any additional funding required to complete the project beyond the grant amount.

The Upper Cumberland Development District would prepare all necessary documents for the completion of the grant application at no charge to DeKalb County. Should the grant be approved UCDD shall perform all administrative services for the project.

Part of the application process includes conducting community household surveys with randomly selected addresses in the areas served by the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department (all areas of DeKalb County outside the city limits of Smithville and Alexandria).

“The county gets to select a project to apply for through the CDBG program each year and this year we plan to apply for fire equipment and specifically our project is to add another tanker. We only have one tanker in the county. With the barriers and obstacles we have with water supply because we don’t have a lot of hydrants out in the county we really do have a dire need for another way to get water to the fire scenes in the rural parts of the county. Part of the application process is that we have to do these community household surveys. We are doing them by telephone and in person,” said County Fire Chief Donny Green.

The survey process takes less than 3 minutes and all information will be secure and not used for any other purposes.

“We want to make sure our residents understand that these surveys are legitimate and necessary for us to submit this grant application. We would greatly appreciate cooperation from those who are selected for a survey. The surveys will be conducted by telephone or personal visits. All surveys will be completed by DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department personnel who will be able to provide identification proving they are members of the DeKalb County Volunteer Fire Department. Anyone can also feel free to contact me at 615-464-7176 if they have any questions or concerns,” said Chief Green.

In other business, the commission reappointed County Fire Chief Donny Green and Assistant Chief Anthony Boyd as officers for another year.

January 25, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

In anticipation of winter weather Tuesday, the DCHS basketball games with Cannon County will be played Monday night, January 28 in Smithville instead of Tuesday night, as had been scheduled. Action will begin with the girls game at 6 p.m. followed by the boys game.

Listen LIVE on WJLE for all the action with the Voice of the Tigers and Lady Tigers John Pryor.

Meanwhile DCHS will be in action tonight (Friday) at Watertown starting with the girls game at 6 p.m. followed by the boys game. Listen LIVE on WJLE for all the action with the Voice of the Tigers and Lady Tigers John Pryor.

The remaining schedule is as follows:
Friday, January 25: Watertown*-Away 6 p.m.
Monday, January 28: Cannon County*-Home 6 p.m.
Friday, February 1: Upperman*-Away 6 p.m.
Tuesday, February 5: Macon County*-Home 6 p.m.
Thursday, February 7: Smith County*-Home 6 p.m.
Friday, February 8: Monterey-Home 6 p.m.

January 25, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County has been awarded a federal grant through the Tennessee Department of Transportation under the Local Roads Safety Initiative Program to improve conditions on two county roads where there have been severe crashes within the last six years.

The two roads, the Old Blue Springs Road (1.75 miles) from Blue Springs Road to Highway 56 and Holmes Creek Road (5.64 miles) from State Route 83/Allen Ferry Road to Golf Club Drive were identified through the Tennessee Department of Transportation safety needs investigation process and were added to the Highway Safety Improvement Program list.

The total estimated cost of the projects is $320,500 which includes $232,300 for construction expense of asphalt paving, guardrails, new signage, and pavement markings, mobilization etc. with a local match to the county of $4,700 for the paving on Old Blue Springs Road. The preliminary engineering costs is $65,000 and $23,200 for construction engineering and inspection.

“In February 2018, then Road Supervisor Butch Agee, Sheriff Patrick Ray and I met with TDOT officials and people from T-Square Engineering to discuss the Local Roads Safety Initiative Program (LRSI). Out of this discussion we were able to identify some roads that met the criteria under the LRSI program. TDOT contracted with T-Square Engineering to do the preliminary engineering study. Current Road Supervisor Danny Hale, Sheriff Ray and I are very pleased of the safety improvements to be done to these two roads. Also, county tax payer dollars to be spent will be very minimal at only $4,700 for $232,000 worth of safety improvements. This is a win-win for everyone,” said County Mayor Tim Stribling.

The LRSI has a $250,000 cap available to each County with the focus being on items eligible for 100% federal funding. To qualify a route for the LRSI, there must be a minimum of five (5) crashes with at least one (1) crash being a fatal or incapacitating injury crash during a six (6) year period. Additionally, the severe crash rate must equal to or exceed the statewide average severe crash rate.

According to the study, Old Blue Springs Road is a two-lane with widths of nine (9) feet and shoulders of two (2) feet. This road was added to the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) list and qualifies for funding because it experienced fifteen (15) crashes, including one (1) fatal crash from 2010 – 2016. Additionally, the road has a severe crash rate of 0.344 which exceeds the statewide average severe crash rate of 0.222. The Average Daily Traffic (ADT) for this segment is 758 vehicles per day.

Holmes Creek Road is a two-lane with widths ranging from eight (8) to ten (10) feet and shoulders of two (2) feet. This road was added to the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) list and qualifies for funding because it experienced seventeen (17) crashes, including two (2)incapacitating injury crashes from 2010 – 2016. Additionally, Holmes Creek Road has a severe crash rate of 0.275 which exceeds the statewide average severe crash rate of 0.222. The Average Daily Traffic (ADT) for this segment is 588 vehicles per day.

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