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ELKINS -- The Randolph County Development Authority was recently awarded a $31,818 Local Economic Development grant from the West Virginia Department of Economic Development.
The purpose of the LED grant is to enhance the capacity of local economic development activities and to complete Certified Development community program requirements.
"In order to qualify for the LED grant, development authorities have to submit a lot of details about their operation, their budget, their action plan, and projects they have ongoing," RCDA Director Robbie Morris told The Inter-Mountain Thursday. "We are also required to have professional development in-training hours and many other things in order to qualify for the grant."
This makes the 30th straight year that the RCDA has been awarded the LED grant. The total increased from last year's amount of $22,727.
The RCDA Board of Directors approved the paperwork necessary to receive the funds during Wednesday evening's regular Development Authority meeting.
"We are very proud that for the 30th year in a row we received the LED grant," Morris said. "We are very proud of the history of the Randolph County Development Authority and all the directors before me. We have continued to grow and expand our services offerings, and the impact that we have, not only in the community but the region, is significant and we are very proud of that."
Morris said the amount awarded from the grant has fluctuated in the 12 years he's been director of the RCDA.
"It was around the same amount this year as it was when I first started," he said. "But then during the budget-cut years, it got down to as low as $14,000 or $15,000. For the last two or three years it has been $22,727, and this is the first year the legislature made supplemental appropriations to add more money into the pot. So the max a development authority was eligible for was what we received."
Morris said the money will go into the Development Authority's general revenue to support its overall operations.
"With the projects that we currently have in the hopper, between the industrial parks and the Events Center, and so forth, there's no lack of areas in which we can spend the money," Morris said. "The design work for the Events Center will be finished up here in the next month or so, and we are moving forward with getting everything ready to go bid. Hopefully, we will do that here in the not-distant future and proceed from there."
The next Randolph County Development Authority meeting will take place on Feb. 7 at 4 p.m.