On June 23 Thomas H. Walman, Bureau Manager for Community Revitalization informed Mayor Quave that the Mississippi Development Authority authorized a Katrina Supplemental Public Facilities Code Enforcement grant of $400,000.00. Round II of this program continues (through June 30, 2009) to assist our recovery efforts by providing funds for Code Enforcement personnel and their training. Most of these funds are part of the overall Coast Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding program for Mississippi.

The grant is used primarily to provide salaries and other compensation as well as travel and training for personnel within the Building Department (Building Inspectors, Code Enforcement Officers and Permit Clerks). However, the funds can be used for almost any Code Enforcement-related purpose, including the purchase of equipment and supplies necessary for such activities.

The program’s goal is help defray the costs of providing qualified personnel during the recovery period. Because many communities had no income at all, with their tax bases destroyed and no construction activity, etc..., providing salaries for such services seemed daunting. The theory being that once a building department was back up and running and infrastructure and private development had reached a level of sustainability, each entity would then be on its own. 

This grant, along with the revenues we generate as a result of permit fees and related income, provide the operating funds for D'Iberville's Building Department.  After July 1, 2009 the Building Department will be required to operate within a budget based on revenues alone.  Unlike Public Safety, Building Departments are expected to operate on the funds that they generate; i.e. no net loss or gain (O balance budgeting), whenever possible.  Because we are fee-based, we should be able to collect enough fees to accomplish that goal, provided we see continued growth and we use our heads.

D’Iberville Police Receives $55,000 Grant

The Gulf Coast Community Foundation granted the D’Iberville Police Department a $55,000 grant, June 17 for the purchase of equipment and for the start up and operation cost of the new force. The D’Iberville Police Force will go live on October 1, 2008. This grant is the latest in a series of grants awarded to the force for its inception, achieved in no small part through the work and diligence of Chief Wayne Payne.

The Gulf Coast Community Foundation is a public charity dedicated to the progressive development of worthy causes, providing donor services, and promoting and providing leadership in response to changing community needs. The Foundation is a vehicle for charitable giving through which individuals, families, corporations, non-profit organizations and private foundations can meet charitable objectives in the fields of education, arts and culture, historic preservation, neighborhood enrichment, and health and human services. 

(Photo above right: Chief Wayne Payne accepts a check from Rodger Wilder, president of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation in D’Iberville’s city hall on June 17 as deputies look on. (Nicole LaCour Young/City of D’Iberville)

The Foundation meets this mission by developing and managing a comprehensive base of endowment funds - an expanding pool of charitable dollars, permanently committed to meeting the needs of the people of South Mississippi. For more information go to www.mgccf.org.