Morgan hiring grant writer to seek more cash

For the Enquirer

Morgan County has agreed to hire a consultant to help it win federal grant money in the future.

The Morgan County Commission unanimously agreed Tuesday to contract with grant writer Reece Langley and Langley Consulting LLC for $3,000 a month for a total of $36,000 a year to seek out grants for the county.

Commission Chairman Ray Long said the grant writer job will more than pay for itself in the form of grants throughout the year. He pointed out that both Limestone County and Athens have grant writers and that Lime-stone recently won a $1 million grant.

“If we get any grant it will be more than $36,000, and so I am confident it will pay for itself times over. We have never traditionally put in for a lot of grants like Jefferson County. Of course, they are a lot bigger than we are. Madison County gets stuff, but they have people there telling them what grants have come open,” Long said. “We’ve never had that. We’ve never had anyone up there (in Washington, D.C.) working for us.” He said if he doesn’t see it online or someone doesn’t send him something that says grants are available, then they don’t know to apply for them. “The biggest lobbyist Morgan County has right now for grants is Ray Long,” Long said with a chuckle. “We got a $595,000 grant for the sheriff’s department two years ago, but I had to make three trips to D.C. to lobby for it, and for lack of a better word to beg them so we could buy vehicles and equipment.

“We have 3,069 counties across the whole country. They can’t single someone out and say, ‘Hey, Morgan County, you’re eligible for this grant.’ You have to have someone who is on the inside and can help you with that.” One of the projects Long hopes to secure grant money for is the agricultural center the county plans to build next door to the new Cotaco event center that is currently under construction. He said it will cost $8 million or $9 million for the ag center and so far the county only has $4 million.

“We haven’t bid it yet because we are trying to get our funds together,” Long said. “There is money up there (in Washington) for things like that.” Another project that needs grant money is the paving of Alabama 55 that stretches from Lawrence County to Cullman County. The entire road is in Morgan County District 3 and Long said there is no way the commissioner can afford to spend all of his annual road money on resurfacing it. Even if he did it would take five or six years to get it done.

The county also needs a downtown storm shelter so the county can stop using the courthouse basement as one. Long said every time they have to open the basement as a shelter it costs too much for security.

Julie Reeves, Morgan County chief administrator, said as it stands staff accountants have been working on grants, but it is becoming so timeconsuming that it is time to contract with a grant writer. She said grants are not just a one-time application. They have to be monitored and corrected and there needs to be someone there who can dedicate himself to that task.

“It’s its own job,” she said. “He’s bringing a certain set of knowledge we don’t have in-house. It makes it easier for us to get it right.”