Ike, Dolly Relief Funds Soon Available To Upshur County

ETCOG will receive and distribute $9,224,823.25 among eligible counties

KILGORE, TX, Feb. 9, 2009 -- The East Texas Council Of Governments (ETCOG) today announced that The Office of Rural Community Affairs(ORCA) will release $9,224,823.25 in federal funding to ETCOG to distribute disaster relief funds to cities and counties affected by hurricanes Ike and Dolly. Counties eligible for these grant funds include Anderson, Cherokee, Gregg, Harrison, Marion, Panola, Rusk, Smith, and Upshur.

ETCOG, a voluntary association of counties, cities, school districts and special districts within the fourteen-county East Texas region, will host a series of public hearings to obtain comments on the proposed distribution of funds for disaster relief, long-term recovery, and restoration of infrastructure, housing and economic revitalization in areas affected by the hurricanes.

To determine if their proposed grant distribution process meets with public approval, two Public Hearings to receive public comments will be held. The hearings will be held Monday, February 16, at 10:00 AM and Wednesday, February 18, at 2:00 PM. Both meetings will be at the ETCOG offices, located at 3800 Stone Road in Kilgore.

According to ETCOG's Community & Economic Development Manager, Julie Burnfield, if there are enough public comments against the way ETCOG proposes to distribute the funds, then ETCOG would amend their distribution plan to accommodate the public's concerns.


She says there is money available for two types of projects under these funds. the first is infrastructure for which all nine counties, including Upshur, are eligible and the second is housing for which 5 counties, Cherokee, Gregg, Harrison, Rusk, and Smith are eligible.

Once ETCOG has decided the method of distribution the cities and counties will apply directly to the agency handling the grant monies.

For the infrastructure grants, applications would be directed to ORCA, and for the housing grants, the Texas Department of Housing (TDOH) would process the applications.