Project To Extend Sidewalks Moves Forward

By Jane DeGeorge

Published: March 13, 2008

Local officials recently agreed to pay a total of $65,000 in matching funds required for an additional Main Street streetscapes grant. However, some county and town representatives question whether this is enough money to receive the federal enhancement grant, which would expand sidewalk improvements on Main Street in downtown Madison.

Madison County Administrator Lisa Kelley said she believes the amount of local funds required to receive this new $350,000 grant, which is administered through the Virginia Department of Transportation, will be between $85,000-$87,500.

“I believe the local match required is 25 percent of the grant…which is $87,500, but there is a slight possibility that the local match could be less than that,” Kelley said. Officials will know the exact amount of local funds requested when they receive a grant agreement, which Kelley said should arrive soon.

Earlier this month, the county administrator suggested that the town and county pay the full matching fund amount now, possibly reducing it later since local officials may be able to “pay” a certain percentage of the match “in kind,” which means a certain amount of time or services offered by local officials (relating to the administration of this specific project) would be accepted as the equivalent of cash.
Town representatives previously asked Madison County Board of Supervisors Chairman Eddie Dean if he would support the county providing $42,000 toward the project. Dean told the Main Street committee that he would “have a hard time supporting that with what investment we’ve made up to this point.”

The Madison County Board of Supervisors has agreed to set aside $20,000 in its 2008-2009 fiscal year budget toward the project, Dean told the Madison Town Council at its meeting last week. The council voted to earmark $45,000 toward the project in its 2008-2009 fiscal year budget at this meeting.

Madison Mayor Willie Lamar told the council that he believes the local match amount may be decreased if less of the grant is spent. The mayor added that he was unsure if spending less than the awarded amount would affect the community receiving future grants.

Kelley told The Eagle that although state grants administered through VDOT sometimes allow a community to reduce the amount of grant funds it receives corresponding to the amount of local match funds available, she is unsure if this option is available for federal grant money administered through VDOT.

Even if local officials are able to receive a smaller grant than was awarded, it will likely hurt the Main Street committee’s chances of receiving future grants, according to the county administrator.
“It’s not a good idea if you apply for a certain amount of funding to go back and say we’re only going to take [a lower amount],” Kelley said. “Next time we apply for a grant, we wouldn’t be treated as high of a priority.”

If the grant money is received, the town council voted to approve using the funds to replace the sidewalks, curbs and gutters along Main Street from the Madison Department of Social Services building at 101 S. Main St. toward the southern end of town. The sidewalk improvement project originally included this southern section of Main Street however, the project area was reduced when the improvements proved to cost more than the previously awarded $350,000 grant.
Even if the Greater Madison Main Street Project committee receives the additional grant, officials may not be able to complete sidewalk improvements along the entire southern section of town since the original project bid was $1.4 million, more than both grants combined, according to the supervisors chairman.

Work will likely begin this summer if the grant is received, officials say. The county would act as the fiscal agent on the project, receiving payments from the grant later as reimbursement, according to the county administrator.

Also at the Madison Town Council’s regularly scheduled March 6 meeting, the council:

• Listened to comments by Town Clerk Barbara Roach about a recently passed bill that imposes a $5 fee to those who visit a Department of Motor Vehicles customer service center to renew their vehicle registration instead of renewing it on-line, by mail, over the phone or by visiting a DMV Select location, which includes Madison’s DMV office. The bill aims to decrease the number of people who visit the full-service DMV centers in person, according to recent news media reports. Roach told the council that customers using the Madison DMV location would not be charged this fee.

• Voted to approve purchasing two new printers for about $2,500 for the town’s Division of Motor Vehicles office. When the town renewed its contract with the DMV this past year, it agreed to purchase new printers by June 30 and return the ones its currently uses, which are owned by the DMV. The town currently pays the DMV $50 per month for the printers’ maintenance, according to the town clerk.

• Voted to approve contracting Russell Yowell for $3,400, the lowest of two estimates town officials received, to install new flooring and carpeting in the town office in the Peterson Building on Main Street.