Milam receives huge grant

Milam County Judge Steve Young got word Friday that his and his associates grant work has paid off.

The county has been given a $3.77 million Economic Development Administration Cares Act Recovery Assistance grant that it applied for months ago.

‘This is such a blessing; such great news,” the judge said. “So this will be the largest grant the county has ever gotten.”

Young made the announcement at the Monday County Commissioners meeting in the courthouse and later addressed it in a simulcast on KMIL and KRXT radio stations.

The plans for the money were made long ago when the grant applications were filed.

The money will be used to renovate the buildings and grounds that were once the hospital in Cameron.

There is still a lot of red tape to cut through before construction can begin, but the plans call for county offices to leave the downtown buildings they currently occupy for what will be become a county administrative and medical center.

The proposal calls for the health department, the district attorney, the tax accessor-collector, the clerk and other county offices to be located within the three building complex.

Bea’s Kitchen will also be moved onto the grounds at 980 North Crockett Ave., where it will have a private entrance, expand-ed dining room and a game area, the judge said.

“So I am real excited about this. It is going to be nice,” he said.

The county is also going to have to provide $943,182 toward the project because the grant carries a 20 percent burden to the county for what will be about a $4.7 million project.

“The county’s match will be all in in-kind work,” he said. The in-kind work will

The in-kind work will include various things to meet the financial requirement, but for a start the parking lot will be redone.

The county plans to add solar panels to the facility to reduce the cost of the monthly electricity bill, he said.

“This will be a massive construction project,” he said. He also estimated that

He also estimated that it would likely be a year before all the construction work can begin.

At the meeting the judge talked about local, state and national disaster area proclamations for the county.

The county has already been declared a disaster area by the judge, the state and the federal government.

The judge said, “We posted a lot of great information about what can be claimed and how claims can be made on the Milam County web page at: http:// www.milamcounty.net/ page/milam.em. Please go to the link to view those materials.”