County commissioners gave the county manager approval to apply for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) at their meeting July 7.

The grant is for $400,000 and will be administered by Hobbs, Upchurch & Associates, P.A.

Eight homes were selected for emergency repairs and eight more were chosen for renovation, grant administrator Michael Walser said. A renovation ensures that a home is completely up to state standards while an emergency repair will address one issue, like a leaking roof.

The grant is designed for low to moderate income, owner-occupied homes, which typically include the elderly or disabled. It will take several years to run its course.

The Community Development Block Grant is a program under the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and began in 1974.

"The CDBG program works to ensure decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities, and to create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses," the HUD's Web page said. "HUD determines the amount of each grant by using a formula comprised of several measures of community need, including the extent of poverty, population, housing overcrowding, age of housing and population growth lag in relationship to other metropolitan areas."

Eight more homes will benefit from the state's Urgent Repair Program.

The program provides up to $5,000 per home for provisions like a heating system replacement, Walser said.

Beneficiaries have "to be very low income," he said.

Commissioners designated grant administration by the firm at their June 2 meeting.

After a required public hearing, the application for the Rural Operating Assistance Program was also approved. The county's director of transportation, Scott Rowell, appeared before the board for the hearing, which is annual.

"It's a state program that we use to offset the operating costs," Rowell said Friday.

The program will provide $89,083 in funds and requires $4,100 from the county. Since Rowell became director of transportation, the county's portion of the money has been provided through public transportation fares, which will not go up, he said Friday.

"There's not going to be any major change in service," he said at the meeting.

Sheriff gives update on grants

Sheriff Tommy Allen presented the board with information on guaranteed and pending grants for his office in 2009-2010.

There is currently $884,186 in confirmed funds and $1,130,232 in pending funds. The county is slated to provide $14,299.

His office will receive $95,326 from the Governor's Highway Safety Program. The county's match is the aforementioned $14,299.

"The mission of the Governor's Highway Safety Program is to promote highway safety awareness and reduce the number of traffic crashes in the state of North Carolina through the planning and execution of safety programs," the program's Web site said.

The office will receive $25,381 for a "Byrne/JAG" grant through the Governor's Crime Commission.

"The JAG grant is basically to set up a special response team," Allen said Friday. The teams are designated SERT, or Special Emergency Response Team.

He said it was similar to a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team. The team would be used in situations that pose an increased risk of danger to the officers, like the execution of some warrants.

The money will provide equipment and training for six or seven officers. He hopes to have the program up and running at some point next year. The money for the grant will not be available until Oct. 1.

His office is slated to receive $200,000 from a Community Oriented Policing Services grant and has applied for another $530,232.

The first grant is to upgrade radios and the second would provide full funding for three officers. Allen described the process as "very competitive" and estimated the county's chances of procuring the remaining funding as even.

Drug seizures will provide $63,479.

There are $500,000 in guaranteed funds for Pictometry, $50,000 of which will go to the Sheriff's Office.

Pictometry is a type of aerial photography that allows many detailed measurements to be taken, including height and area. Another $1,100,000 is pending.

These images could also prove useful to the tax office, he said.

Other Business

In other business, the tax collector's office told the board they had surpassed the expected $428,000 in collections. One Peachland customer, who owed roughly $37,000, paid June 30 at 4:57 p.m., just before the end of the fiscal year.

Thomasina Spencer was appointed to replace the recently resigned Bernice Bennett at Sandhills Community Action.