(LEX 18) — Back in October of 2023, the mayor of Campton and the Wolfe County judge executive were given symbolic cardboard checks totaling more than 2.3 million dollars in federal grants from Team Kentucky for community projects.
More than a year later, those projects aren’t completed, so LEX 18 looked into what happens when local governments are awarded federal funding through the state.
The city of Campton, which is getting most of the money, will use it to upgrade its water treatment plant. The plant provides clean drinking water to 2,500 city and county customers. It’s 12 years old and ready for rehabilitation.
“I think a big misconception with the public is once I get presented my cardboard check that that 2.1 million dollars goes into an account with the city of Campton and that is farther from the truth,” Campton Mayor Kathi May said.
Sometimes the presentation of symbolic checks is just the start of several layers of planning, including final funding approvals and working with engineers and contractors to get to the finished product.
The state confirmed that both the Campton and Wolfe County projects are still moving forward.
The city and county depend on theKentucky River Area Development District to write grants, and if they’re selected it’s still a waiting game after the checks are presented.
“We had a water tank project that literally went through three mayors before it was completed,” May said.
As for the current water project in Campton, the funds are under contract with the city and will be ready when the city is ready to move forward with the project, said Logan Fogle, spokesman for Team Kentucky’s Department for Local Government.
“The initial Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) application for this project requested $1.7 million, as announced by Rocky Adkins,” Fogle said in the statement. “Through Team Kentucky working with Campton, this project will now receive $2,640,089 from the ARC. This means Campton will have more funding than initially announced for this project.”
The other symbolic check presented last October is going to Wolfe County for improvements on a park that’s in need of basketball goals, a parking lot, and bathrooms.
"Kids need a place to play,” Wolfe County Magistrate Gene Booth said. "Especially that area of Helechawa, it's needed a park for a long time."
Wolfe County hopes to see their park improvements underway by next summer.
The water treatment timeline is longer, but the mayor said engineers are making headway.
“They are working on the plans for my rehab to my plant,” May said. “I have been assured they are complete as of this morning so we are very hopeful that will go out to bid the beginning of the year.”
