The Town of Jonesboro Board of Aldermen had their regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 11th at the Charles H. Garrett Community Center. A large throng of visitors was on hand but due to several councilmen being absent a quorum could not be established forcing the meeting to be cancelled.
Regardless, the ones who were there left with a renewed sense of vitality and enthusiasm for the prospects of the future of the town. This was because of the announcement made by Mayor James “Spike” Harris that Jonesboro was in line for a tremendous financial windfall by the state.
“I am pleased to announce that the Town of Jonesboro will be receiving 1.9 million dollars in grants in the next six months,” Harris informed the ones present.
At that point Harris turned the floor over to Henry Shuler of Shuler Consulting Company based in Chatham, who further explained the upcoming financial boon the town will see.
“Jonesboro will receive 1.5 million dollars in non-matching grant money,” beamed Shuler. “This will be earmarked for the purchase of water meters. The town will also receive $100,000.00 in non-matching funds designated for street repairs.”
What makes the awards even better is that unlike most grants received, the town does not have to provide matching funds to secure the money. Normally when a grant is given, the receiver has to pay a certain amount to the state to get the funds.
“We had to have these meters in order to get our water system back to where it provided a positive cash flow for the town after years of losing money,” explained Harris. “We were looking at being forced to take out a loan, which would have made our financial condition even worse but thanks to these non-matching grants now we can move forward without incurring any additional expenses.”
Harris and Shuler also expressed their gratitude to LA District 13 Representative and LA Appropriations Chairman, Jack McFarland, who was instrumental in Jonesboro receiving the awards.
“This wouldn’t have happened without Representative McFarland pushing this through,” said Shuler.
“We certainly owe a big debt of gratitude to Jack for helping us with this,” agreed Harris.
The money for both grants is expected to be received in two to three months.
Jonesboro is also in line to receive an additional $300,000.00 in a capital outlay grant in the next six months for the upgrade of two lift stations. This grant does have a 25% match required, meaning the town will have to come up with $75,000.00 to get the money.
As the meeting officially didn’t take place but was more of an informative session, Mayor Harris said a special called meeting will be scheduled in the near future. At that time the purchase of new electronic meters will be discussed along with the proposed change in water rates for the residents of the Jonesboro Water System.