Chipley unpauses CRA grants; votes to sell foreclosed property
Carol Kent Wyatt
The News
CHIPLEY – A popular grant program is once again accepting applications after being on hold since January.
Chipley City Council temporarily suspended applications in January for residential and business improvement grants through the Chipley Redevelopment Agency. The suspension was to give CRA board members and City Attorney Michelle Jordan time to make a change in the application agreement language that would help recapture funds should grantees sell or “flip” the property.
Council members voted in regular session Tuesday, March 9, to accept the new guidelines, allow the CRA to once again accept applications, and allow applicants to submit work performed between January 12 and March 9 to help fulfill the grant’s in-kind work requirement. CRA Executive Director Ted Everett states approximately ten applicants have been awaiting the program to restart the application process.
“At least those liens equal a quarter million dollars that we had our taxpayers pay to have something removed that we may or may not get back,” City Commissioner Debbie McDowell noted. “Just because there’s a lien doesn’t mean we get reimbursed; we’re at the bottom of the list.”
McDowell, who joined the board in November 2016, is the only commissioner remaining from the members who adopted that 2017 ordinance. Mayor Jill Luke was elected to the board after that, through a special election.
Faced with the task of cutting costs in the 2021-22 budget, board members decided that it was time to eliminate the portion of the ordinance empowering the city to trim growth on vacant lots and then bill the property owner.