County to ask for public input on community project grants

County officials will ask for public input to get ideas for future community projects that will be covered by the national Community Development Block Grant.

The proposed projects have to meet several criteria established by the Housing and Community Development Act (HCDA), including eligible activities and national objectives. Nye County officials will invite the public to provide project ideas and input on past or potential projects during the next meeting of Nye County commissioners that will take place on Tuesday, Nov.17.

"We wait for the community to bring those (projects) forward to us," said Nye County Commission Chairperson Lorinda Wichman.

Among the chief national objectives of the highly-coveted $2 million grant are benefiting low and moderate income persons, preventing or eliminating blight and meeting other community development needs that have a particular urgency because of current conditions.

The types of projects that could qualify for the grant are fire stations, emergency vehicles and equipment, community, senior and youth centers, planning, landfills, small business lending and several others.

Nye County Grant and Contract Manager Mary Zlotek said the county can submit two projects and sponsor one.

"It is essential the county involves citizens' input when determining potential project requests from the CDBG program," said Zlotek. "The county is required to encourage citizen participation, who reside in slums or blighted areas in which CDBG funds are proposed to be used in order to establish the areas and identify the activities that residents feel are the most needed for their community."

Wichman said the amount of the grant for Nye County isn't yet known and could not be available until December when the board will determine which projects will be selected.

"We would like to receive as much as we can in order to benefit our community," she added.

CDBG is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development nationally and by the Governor's Office of Economic Development in Nevada.

The funds are available on a competitive basis to Nevada's 26 non-entitlement cities and counties with a population less than 200,000 people.

Since 1982, the grants have covered 40 projects worth $3,006,226 across Nye County. Some of the most expensive ones include Tonopah wastewater treatment rehab, $475,821; Tonopah wastewater effluent re-use and design, $190,000 and Beatty water well $180,000.

Currently, Nye County has several open projects, including Gabbs swimming pool renovation and Rural Nevada Development Corporation housing rehab that were awarded in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Applications can be obtained by calling Nye County Grant and Contract Manager Mary Dawn Zlotek at 775-751-4281 or emailing at mdawnzlotek@co.nye.nv.us.

Public comments, staff input, success of past projects, needs of the community and benefits of project will be taken into consideration for deciding on which projects to submit to CDBG, officials said.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77