SUMMERDALE - Summerdale town council held a public hearing during the August 14 meeting to gain signatures from citizens before applying for a grant. If the grant is awarded, it will mean some much-needed improvements to the town’s streets.

“We are applying for a grant to resurface the roads in Summerdale, and also to include some drainage,” said Summerdale’s Mayor David Wilson.

While the council tried to obtain the grant during 2016, not enough people attended the public hearing to give their signatures. This year, thanks to the townspeople spreading the word, there was an impressive turnout, and the council is hopeful that the grant will be awarded.

Also present for the meeting were Stacy McKean, a grant writer with Grant Management LLC, and Paul Darnell, project engineer with Southern Engineering Solutions.

“We are planning to submit the grant application to the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs,” said McKean. “This is for the fiscal year 2017 community development block grant fund.”

The intention is to apply for $280,000 in grant funding, while Summerdale will commit to match an estimated 10% of the funds, which will be a little over $30,000.

“It’s very generous that the town is doing that,” McKean said. “It’s not necessarily a requirement, so I think it shows how committed the town council is to see that these roads get resurfaced and that some of the drainage problems are fixed.”

The roads in Summerdale have a lot of wear, and it has been a long time since they have been touched up. With the roads experiencing severe cracking, it is pertinent for the council to address the roadway situation before it worsens, and the expense continues to rise.

The roads with the most problems are 2nd St, 3rd St, 4th St, W Hamm Ave, W Jefferson Ave, and Washington Ave.

“There will be a combination of road resurfacing, so new roadways and then also drainage, because there’s some pretty bad ditches in the area that need to be improved,” said McKean.

During the public hearing, there was no opposition to the application for the grant or the scheduled road and drainage improvements.

To apply for the grant, the council must officially hire the grant writer and the engineer prior to submitting the application, which is slightly different from how it was done in the past. Preceding the public hearing, the Summerdale council received proposals from both Grant Management LLC and Southern Engineering Solutions, and the town council awarded both companies contracts during the council to push forward with the grant application. With the contract, Grant Management can submit the proposal at no cost to the town.

“The reason there’s not a fee included is because that fee will be determined by ADECA,” McKean explained. “It will be paid for with grant money, and the same thing goes for Southern Engineering Services.”

Summerdale is preparing to sign the application and turn it over to Grant Management LLC for submission, and is optimistic that they will be awarded the grant and begin resurfacing their roadways and drainage.