Help could be on the way for the county’s transitional shelter. During the Sunflower County board meeting on Monday, Dr. Adrian Brown of Brown & Associates presented the board with an update on a potential grant that could assist with the county’s shelter. Brown informed the board that Sunflower County is one out of 16 applicants that may get funded with the grant. The total grant funding available is $2,129,160, and the amount recommended for approval for the Sunflower County Transitional Shelter for the Homeless is $92,714. The county has contracted with the Sunflower County Ministerial Alliance Counseling Services to operate the shelter. District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson said, “We need to redo the budget. This grant has many different parts to it.” Dickerson explained that the original grant application was for about $30,000 more than what now could be allotted. She said that the board would likely need to review the budget in order to know what to keep that will total $92,000. District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald suggested that County Administrator Mary Hart could help with that process. Dickerson said, “Let’s take a look at it first to see. It hasn’t been awarded yet.” Brown said, “This is a formality. This is posted on the state’s website. This is typically a formality when they usually post. This is 99.9% sure.” Donald suggested the board could go ahead and begin the planning for the grant budget. “I don’t understand why would you procrastinate on an administrator that from this point on will handle all of the business?” Donald asked. The board decided to revisit the grant application. Also, the county received a check for $15,000 from the City of Indianola that is said to be earmarked to help pay for security at the transitional shelter. The City of Indianola voted earlier this year to help SCMACS with this expense, and shelter director Pastor Phillip McGee told the board on Monday that he did not think that it had to be used for security and it could possibly be used for other expenses. The board did inform McGee that if he sends a monthly invoice of his security bill, the county will pay it out of the $15,000 given by the city.
