Counties throughout Alabama’s Black Belt were awarded multiple grants Tuesday by the state to make sweeping improvements. The grants varied in size from hundreds of thousands to only a few thousand. However, they will all serve to aid in some type of improvement.

The City of Moundville was among those smiling brightest when the checks were handed out. Moundville was given a $400,000 ADECCA grant to help with repairs similar to those taking place in York. Areas of Moundville are plagued with streets in dire need of repair.

Moundville Mayor Jack Morrison said currently, the grant is on hold, but it would eventually be awarded.

“It is on hold right now while we go over it, but we will have the grant,” Morrison said. “It is just on hold for a week or two so we can get some of the language ironed out.”

Morrison said the grant has been approved for some time; they simply wanted to make sure everything was in place.

“We had the grant approved last summer and now we are just getting the details ironed out,” Morrison said. “There were some things that needed to change so we had it on hold.”

Once the wording meets the approval of both parties the city will be able to take action. Morrison said they plan to take care of some problems that have been neglected because of funding.

“The grant is going to be huge for us,” Morrison said. “There are some houses and street work that needs to be done.”

The grant will be a huge boost in caring for areas that need immediate attention. Morrison said two areas were especially high priorities.

“We are going to do some work across Griffin Street and Alabama Avenue,” Morrison said. “One of the things we want to do is add a bigger water line. We have had some customers out there who have needed some help. We have been needing to do some work there for a long time and with the grant we hope to get that done.”

Marion was another city that benefited when the money was dispersed. The city was given a grant of $48,000 to help with their revitalization effort. City Clerk Carolyn Thomas said their grant was slightly different because it will be used mostly for planning.

“Ours is for a study on the revitalization of the downtown area,” Thomas said. “We are going to use the money to figure out what we need to do to help.”

Thomas said they hope to take action as soon as possible, but wanted to be sure they were heading in the right direction when the time came.

“Right now it is just in the planning period,” Thomas said. “That is what the grant is for. We are going to get different opinions and plans for what needs to be done.”

Two other areas also came out of the meeting with good news. Akron learned it would receive a grant for $250,000 and the Sumter County Commission was issued a $12,000 grant.

Grants

City of Moundville $400,000

City of Akron $250,000

City of Marion $48,000

Sumter County Commission $12,000