The Missouri Department of Economic Development has approved $187,050 for eight counties in southwest Missouri, including Greene, to be used for long-term disaster mitigation.
Greene County accepted the funding on behalf of the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments. The funding also will be distributed to Barry, Christian, Dallas, Lawrence, Polk, Webster and Dade counties, said Tim Smith, Greene County administrator.
Smith said it was a matter of procedure for Greene County to submit the grant application and funnel the funding to the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments, because the funding had to come through a governmental body.
"They will administer the grant and manage it, but they could not be awarded it because of the way the rules are written," Smith said.
Though the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments' membership base consists of governmental officials, it is a volunteer organization that also includes members of civic or development organizations, educational or charitable institutions, and public or quasipublic bodies. The council is administered and operated through the Missouri State University Center for Resource Planning and Management, according to its
Web site.
Smith said the grant would be used by the counties involved to build methods to handle natural disasters, including preparation of disaster response teams and a disaster mitigation plan. As Greene County already has an office of emergency management, Smith said the funding would be used primarily in the other counties listed on the grant.
In total, DED approved $5 million to be used throughout the state to aid areas affected by weather-related disasters and to prepare other areas for the possibility of them, according to the release.[[In-content Ad]]
