County looking to build more scattered housing

Local News

November 18, 2009

One million dolalr grant would provide homes for those in need

By HEATHER PYLES, CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Wed Nov 18, 2009, 08:51 PM EST

The original funds from the 2008-2009 Scattered Site Housing program may be close to being spent, but the county isn’t finished rebuilding houses just yet.

During last week’s Pulaski County Fiscal Court meeting, Kristen Lowery, with Kriss Lowery and Associates, Inc., who has assisted the county with receiving funding for the program, told the court she’d like to begin the process of applying for another $1 million grant to help assist more needy people and families.

“Since we have such a long waiting list of people needing assistance on this program we want to just go ahead and apply for another $1 million in funding so we can go ahead and do some additional homes,” Lowery said.

The county received notice in May 2008 that they had been chosen to receive a $1 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) in conjunction with the Governor’s Office for Local Development (GOLD) for a scattered housing project, which would allow homes in need of repairs to be rebuilt for the housing needs of low-income, elderly and disabled individuals. That grant covered costs to rebuild up to 10 homes in the county.

In October 2008, the county secured an additional $240,000 in supplemental funding, which came through the Kentucky Housing Corporation’s 2008-2009 GAP Financing Pool. Those funds went toward an additional five homes.

During last Tuesday’s meeting Lowery updated the court on the progress of the program.

Six homes have already been completed and are occupied. Lowery said another three homes have been completed and are occupied, but inspections must still be carried out. Five homes are under construction, and the construction is close to beginning on one home.

And while the grant has helped the county to meet the needs of 15 home owners, Lowery said there’s still a need for more rebuilding. To do that, the county needs to reapply for the $1 million grant, and Lowery said she thinks the county will receive that funding, as long as the majority of the funds from the last grant has been spent by January 1.

“We have to have 80 percent expended ... to be eligible to apply for funding so quickly again,” Lowery said. “I’m very confident ... that we’ll be able to meet this.”

Lowery emphasized that the program comes with very strict guidelines. The home must be livable, and must be owned by the occupants.

“You have to actively be living in it to be eligible for this program,” Lowery said.

A scattered site housing project is voluntary, and only people who have owned their home for at least half a year are able to apply for the homeowner rehabil-itation. Homeowners are found eligible for the program only if they live in low- to moderate-income homes that require rebuilding.

Lowery said the next program, should the county receive the funds, will have stricter guidelines about how many homes can be on a lot. She said multiple homes on one lot had proved “problematic” in the past, so she said the next program will require that only one home is on a lot.

During last Tuesday’s meeting, Lowery asked that the court pass several resolutions regarding the program, including one in which the court approves the program guidelines and one in which the court acknowledges a “conflict of interest” process.

“They’d had some problems in other communities, not any of my projects, where they find out they would be assisting someone and it turned out to be the daughter of the mayor or something like that ...,” Lowery said.

Lowery told the magistrates and Pulaski County Judge-executive Barty Bullock that a list of those people who have submitted applications for the program has been made available to them to ensure that no relatives of any county officials closely involved with the project will receive a new home without the proper legal procedures being carried out.

The court passed those resolutions.

In other news from the Tuesday, Nov. 10, meeting of fiscal court:

• Mark Bastin, with the Somerset-Pulaski Development Foundation, asked that the court approve advertising for bids for a small, secure communications building near the Valley Oak Technology Park on Ky. 461 that would house the park’s fiber high-speed Internet and telephone connections.

Bastin said if a building isn’t bid out to sit over the underground fiber, those lines would run through a private business’ building.

“That’s not acceptable,” Bastin said. “If that fiber goes down, then our park is not what it should be for our clients out there,”

The court approved advertising for bidding on the building.

• The court approved several additional property cleanups in the county, including Diamond Acres, lot 46, 134 Scarlet Way, 347 Mark Street, lot 46 on Saw Mill Road, and 36 Parkway Court.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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