SALISBURY — About $400,000 will be given to the city of Salisbury in the next fiscal year to disperse among low- to moderate-income housing, public services funding and neighborhood rehabilitation.

But where exactly that money would go and how it would be spent was open for discussion at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

City Planning Director Janet Gapen said that because the money is from an annual disbursement from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the city has to follow the department’s rules about how the money can be spent.

Gapen said the purpose of her presentation to the council Tuesday — and of holding a public meeting to discuss the HUD funds at West End Community Center last Thursday — was to “receive public comment about the use of funds the city receives from HUD.”

Gapen said HUD provides money for two “primary buckets of activities.”

One of those “buckets” is the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Gapen said the city received about $271,200 in CDBG funding last year.

“And this is generally for housing assistance. We provide down-payment assistance, as well as owner-occupied rehab, (which is) a big activity,” Gapen said.

Gapen also said part of the CDBG funds received could be used for public service agencies that serve low- to moderate-income households.

Several of the agencies that receive funding annually were represented at the meeting, including Renee Bradshaw of the Family Crisis Council, Krista Woolly of Community Care Clinic and Sherry Smith of Rowan Helping Ministries.

Woolly said the clinic added 566 patients and dispensed more than 21,000 prescriptions last year.

“So I thank you all very much. Every year I say that, but I really mean it. Thank you all for being a partner with us and with so many of us who work with folks who need help,” Woolly said.

Gapen said both the housing assistance and the public service agency assistance can be used anywhere in the city.

Another aspect of CDBG funding, which involves infrastructure improvements, can only be used in four Salisbury neighborhoods — East End, West End, Jersey City and Park Avenue.

“The four neighborhoods have been identified in our five-year plan for many years and by City Council,” Gapen said.

Gapen said those four neighborhoods have been recipients of the funds since at least 2005.

One of the public infrastructure projects Gapen said the city will be funding this year is a sidewalk along Old Plank Road in West End. She said the city budgeted $40,000 for the project.

Ollie Mae Carroll and Michael Kirksey, both of whom are residents of the West End neighborhood, said they have been asking for the sidewalk to be built for nearly 10 years.

City Manager Lane Bailey said he expects the sidewalk project will be completed this spring.

The second stream of HUD funding is from the HOME program and is also used for owner-occupied rehabilitation for low- to moderate-income households anywhere in the city. Gapen said the city received about $108,800 in HOME program funding last year.

 

City Councilman David Post said it was a “sad truth” that there is not enough money to fund every project that needs to be funded.

“I mean, $400,000, you don’t help too many people buy housing. You don’t keep too many people in their houses. You don’t build that many sidewalks. I mean, we need another comma there, I mean like $4 million instead of $400,000,” Post said. “But it’s just a very scarce resource to be spread.”

Gapen will likely do another presentation to the council at its next meeting to give more details on the grant programs.

Other items on the council’s agenda Tuesday included:

• The council unanimously approved temporary road closure for the 2018 Cheerwine Festival.

Vivian Koontz, the event coordinator for Salisbury Parks and Recreation, said there will be six musical acts at the festival, including one headlining act she estimated would draw a crowd of 10,000 people.

The festival is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. May 19.

Koontz said she anticipates having multiple food, beer and crafts vendors.

“Most of them, we hope that they add a little Cheerwine flair to their offerings to make it more of a signature event,” Koontz said.

About 10 blocks of streets will be closed for the festival, including the intersection of Main and Innes streets.

• The council heard presentations from partners of Women for Community Justice and the Community Action Team.

Women for Community Justice held five Stop the Violence summits and more than 300 people participated in one or more of them.

From those summits, eight categories of focus were identified: mitigating violent crime; civic engagement; economic progress; fair, safe and affordable housing; community stewardship; community succession planning; conciliatory racial and social justice initiatives; and environmental stewardship.

Two other initiatives also emerged from the talks — helping ex-offenders get jobs and housing through a program called Clean Slate and helping teenagers at Henderson Independent High School work through trauma with spoken-word art in a program called Class Act.

The four Community Action teams — which focus on workforce development, opportunities for children, community relations and public safety — presented their individual goals, metrics for success and barriers.

• The council established a committee,  led by Post and Councilwoman Tamara Sheffield, to review the city’s election process.

A date for that committee to meet has not been set.

Contact reporter Jessica Coates at 704-797-4222.