Council agrees to TIGER pursuit
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 24, 2016 1:45 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Mayor Chuck Allen explains the purpose of the special meeting held Friday to discuss the re-vote of the application for the TIGER VIII grant. The vote resulted in a four votes to three votes approval.
The Goldsboro City Council voted 4 to 3 in a special called meeting Friday to allow the city to apply for TIGER VIII grant funds from the federal government that would go towards implementing wayfinding signage, improving Cornerstone Commons, renovating the 300 and 400 blocks of South Center Street and building a concourse at the Goldsboro-Wayne Transportation Authority transfer station.
This vote is a direct reversal of a previous vote taken on the issue nearly a month ago, when the council voted 4 to 3 to deny the city the permission to apply for the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) VIII grant.
District 3 Council Member Mark Stevens reversed his vote from a no to a yes from the first vote on the matter to Friday's vote in order to allow the city to apply for the grant.
Mayor Pro-Tem Gene Aycock made the motion Friday to allow the city to apply for the TIGER VIII grant, and District 2 council member Bill Broadaway seconded the motion. But Aycock did not vote in favor of the motion he made.
Council members Stevens, Bill Broadaway, David Ham and Mayor Chuck Allen voted in favor of applying for the grant, while council members Aycock, Bevan Foster and Antonio Williams voted against the motion.
Several people heavily involved in the development of downtown Goldsboro cheered when the vote passed to allow the city to apply for TIGER VIII grant funds.
"I think everybody in downtown thinks I'm anti-downtown, but I'm not," Aycock said. "As I ride the streets of Goldsboro I have pride in our city, however, I see streets that are in such disrepair that I wonder whether or not they can be saved by resurfacing only. I see the urban blight that is not being adequately addressed and seems to be expanding. I see police officers that protect and serve all of us, and deserve to be better paid. I see city workers working with old outdated equipment that should be replaced. I see all of this in every area and district in Goldsboro, that is, except in the downtown area. We have spent millions upon millions of federal, state and, yes, local dollars to transform downtown into a true show piece -- one that all of us should be proud of. Yes, there are things that we might want to do right now to make it better, however, there is no immediate need to do so. I feel that it's time for us as a council to listen to those who elected us and work on our needs and not our wants. The wants are from a minority of a very passionate but vocal advocates of six square blocks of Goldsboro."
Now that the council has received permission to apply for the grant, the city will need to produce a minimum 20 percent match on the $5 million in grant funding it will apply for and could receive.
This totals $1.3 million local dollars that would be required to match the federal funding, and the council approved a 27 percent match of $1,862,000 that includes $562,000 for contingencies.
This money for contingencies would not be spent without the approval of the City Council.
Therefore, the total cost of the project will be between $6.3 million and $6.8 million if the city receives the TIGER VIII grant funding.