In a lengthy, often heated debate on Monday, Sunflower County supervisors voted to hire Indianolan Adrian Brown, of Brown & Associates, to administer the $2 million federal grant for street repairs and other expenditures in five municipalities.
The motion, made by District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald, specified that the yet-to-be determined fees be paid from grant funds.
This means it is the board’s intent that Sunflower County taxpayers will not bear the cost of administering the grants, all of which benefit the municipalities.
The grant was announced by Rep. Bennie Thompson in February to fund programs in Sunflower and Drew for street repairs, in Ruleville for drainage improvements, in Doddsville for water system improvements and Indianola for police cars and other law enforcement upgrades. Inverness and Moorhead were not included because they were unable to provide a list of projects by the hastily announced deadline. However, they have indicated they will apply for funds in a future round of federal grants.
The grant is a workaround to provide federal grant money to the county’s municipalities which currently cannot apply on their own because they are behind on completing city audits required for most grants. The grant essentially allows the county to apply on behalf of the cities to circumvent the audit roadblock. In agreeing to handle the grant, the supervisors made it clear that Sunflower County will not assume any costs of the projects beyond what is covered by federal funds.
At issue Monday was who to hire to administer what promises to be a complicated mix of differing grant requirements among the multiple federal agencies providing the funds. Also on the table was who will pay for it. The county has yet to receive documents specifying how much will be included for grant administration, if at all. Federal grants generally include a schedule of these fees, usually a percentage of the total grant.
The board faced two choices: hire South Delta Planning & Development, which is funded by federal, county and municipal appropriations, including Sunflower County and its municipalities; or Brown & Associates, a local firm. Both have extensive grant writing and management experience
South Delta did not have a representative at Monday’s meeting. The organization has previously indicated to the supervisors it would manage the grants for free due to its publicly funded status but that it would expect to be paid any management fees specified in the grants. On the other hand, Brown made no such offer Monday and did not answer a question by District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston asking him if he would do the same.
Brown, who was accompanied by his attorney, said that his firm should have been included in a recent county e-mail to municipalities laying out their options on this matter. He said he has been involved in the campaign to secure these funds for more than two years without charging the county, which should be considered in its decision. He also said Brown & Associates is a local firm with deep ties to the community and a successful record in grant writing and administration.
When discussion turned to who would pay for administration fees, the driving concern was that the county has received no documentation stating that administrative costs would be included in the grant funding. Board President and District 2 Supervisor Riley Rice said he has discussed the matter with Thompson who assured him that those expenses would be included.
Nevertheless, the board approved the motion with District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson of Drew voting no. She said she did not think Drew should pay these costs out of its share of the grant because that would mean less money for actual repairs to Drew’s streets.
