Grant Sought For School Safety

A Recreational Trail Program grant may be the key to safety for Goodman school children if the city is approved for a grant.

Though the program is dubbed "Recreational Trail Program Grants," it encompasses sidewalks, for which the city of Goodman is applying, said Ryan Cooper, Harry S. Truman Coordinating Council transportation planner.

New sidewalks, which officials want to connect to the new elementary school in town, are the kind of improvements federal officials highly consider, Cooper said.

Goodman will compete with other Missouri towns for a slice of the pie. Cooper said it's difficult to estimate how much competition exists for the 2020 grant process.

"During the Recreational Trails Program Grant Workshop earlier this month held by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in Jefferson City, I was told there is about $1.5 million in funds allocated to this particular grant for the 2020 grant cycle," Cooper said. "Their goal is to allocate all of those funds to projects across the state that apply. Goodman's project, I anticipate, will be requesting the max amount a project can request, which is $250,000."

Guidelines of the 80/20 grant require those approved for the grant to have a 20 percent match as the minimum.

Goodman Mayor J.R. Fisher said it's his hope that the sidewalks would connect the school to the western part of the city. He also wants to address the drainage problem by Whitmore Street that has been a problem since the new elementary school was built.

The new elementary school was completed and opened in August. The multi-million dollar facility was built after the former school was destroyed in the April 2017 tornado.

Goodman city officials say many children walk to school in the small town and they want to make the journey safer. New sidewalks also would improve the town's aesthetics, officials believe.

The grants are open to local and state governments, school districts, non-profit and for-profit organizations, according to information provided on the HSTCC website. The state of Missouri receives between $1 and $1.5 million each fiscal year, with $250,000 awarded as the trail project maximum.

Officials are combining efforts with HSTCC officials to complete the application by Feb. 14. The grant could be awarded sometime this fall, with a potential start in the spring of 2021.

Projects must be open to the public, the website said.

Eligible projects include restoration of existing recreational trails, development and rehabilitation of trailside and trailhead facilities and trail linkages for recreational trails, construction of new recreational trails (with restrictions for new trails on Federal lands), acquisition of easements and property for recreational trails or recreational trail corridors, and assessment of trail conditions for accessibility and maintenance, according to the website.

To help with the project's cost, Cooper said the town could organize a volunteer force. Each person is basically allocated $10 for each hour of work and that money is applied to the matching grant, Cooper said.

Any person who provides the same service that he or she does as a professional service would be compensated differently -- at the rate he or she is paid professionally, Cooper said.

A volunteer task force could be the catalyst in pulling the project together, Cooper said.

"I believe it would be in Goodman's best interest to be the organizers of the volunteer force because it is an opportunity for the citizens and the city of Goodman to work closely together to achieve a goal that all involved seem to be highly in favor of," he said.

"The volunteers do not have to be qualified or experts by any means, though it would be recommended that some volunteers have experience or, at the very least, someone with the qualifications oversee the work and progress of the volunteers involved."

If approved for the grant, the city would be reimbursed for the money put forward. Officials would have a three-year deadline to complete the project, he said.

Application packets are sent to the Missouri State Parks, then reviewed and scored by the Missouri Trail Advisory Board. Recommended projects are then sent to the Federal Highway Administration.