Grants to benefit area

It was announced Monday that Stephens County Rural Water District No. 3 and the City of Comanche will be among the beneficiaries of the Association of South Central Government (ASCOG) grants.

ASCOG had a record year as the organization received nearly $2.6 million in Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) funds to distribute. In contrast, the organization distributed $1.5 million in 2021.

Stephens County Rural Water District No. 3 is receiving $61,000, the fifth largest grant given out this year, for waterline repair.

The City of Comanche is receiving $45,000 for streets.

This year ASCOG received 67 applications totaling just over $3 million and 57 REAP grants were awarded. The grants range from $30,000 to $136,363.64.

The largest recipient is the town of Byars, which received approximately $136,000 for a water project. The City of Walters was next as it received $80,000 for street repairs. Marlow is receiving $70,000 for storm sirens.

Besides those things already mentioned, the REAP grants that have been awarded will be used to fund many different projects from engineering, water/wastewater repairs, repairs/upgrades to community facilities and public safety projects.

“This funding is crucial to rural Oklahoma communities, counties, and unincorporated areas. For many these funds are used for engineering to get out from under a consent order or used as match for an additional funding source such as Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, Oklahoma Water Resources Board or Oklahoma Department of Commerce,” an ASCOG press release states. “In other cases, it may just be a need that they just simply don’t have the funding for. For many rural Oklahoma communities with a limited revenue stream, they just don’t have the resources to keep up with the skyrocketing infrastructure costs.”