Reprinted from the Martinsburg Journal September 1, 2012Ranson beginning implementation of federal dollarsSeptember 1, 2012
By Matt Armstrong - Journal Staff Writer (
marmstrong@journal-news.net) ,
journal-news.netRANSON - The town of Ranson is starting to see some effects of millions of dollars in grant funding it has captured during the past two years.
Ranson has been awarded approximately $7,653,000 from more than a half-dozen grants during the past two years, according to acting City Manager Andrew Blake.
Ranson has already put some of the grant funds and plans to work by revising the town's zoning ordinance and adopting a 2012 comprehensive plan. Planning and engineering for the completion of Fairfax Boulevard is almost complete, and work on other projects is scheduled to continue through the fall and into next year, according to Blake.
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The town also was one of two municipalities in the country to receive grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Denver was the only other applicant to receive all three grants, and the goal of the grants is to help Ranson and the surrounding area become more sustainable communities, Blake said in a phone interview Friday.
"Obtaining the grants and administering the grants is very labor-intensive, a lot of paperwork. Not only is it just the grants, but then once you get the grants, then you have the secondary task of actually administering the contracts with the different contractors that are hired underneath those grants," he said. "But, in the long run, we think it's all worth it. It's just going to make the community better, and if we can keep on getting grants, we'll just keep on trying to work."
Ranson held a weeklong planning workshop last fall to solicit public input on, and detail plans for, the grant funding. The town is now beginning to move toward implementation, according to Blake.
"One thing with a lot of these grants is you actually have to have a plan before you get the implementation money. We have a lot of plans, so now it's time to start implementing and start getting some of this stuff done," Blake said.
The grants can be a way to help local residents take pride in the community once the plans are implemented in the next few years, according to Ranson Mayor David Hamill.
"Ranson has come a long way in the last 10 or 15 years. We're creating a community that greets people, in many cases, with elegance, shall we say. When you're talking about the streetscape projects, what a person sees is extremely important," Hamill said in a phone interview Friday. "When they see progress and recognize the people that are responsible for the progress, it helps to give them ownership."
Hamill credited the work of town staff and the Ranson City Council as one of the crucial elements that has helped the town capture grant funding in recent years.
"When you have a story to tell that Ranson has, and you look at the progress we've made and continue to make, it just tells its own story. It sells itself," Hamill said. "We've had the ability to generate the interest amongst those entities, whether it be HUD, EPA or DOT. We're well-recognized by all of those political entities, and they want to be able to put their funding where there's going to be significant benefit."
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Reprinted from the Martinsburg Journal Junction September 3, 2012From Charles Town:
Is it possible that David Hamill could be mayor of Charles Town too? He seems to know how to get the grants and how to build a city. Dave, we would love to have you here.
