The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocations were passed by Lima City Council Monday night, but not before councilors raised some issues regarding increased funding for demolishing blighted homes.
In the middle of the public hearing for the CDBG funds, 7th ward councilman Jon Neeper made a motion to take all of the grant funding, around 1 million dollars, and put it into the demolition of condemned homes. Neeper says the public has been called for more demolition and he believes the council should act on the public's request. There were objections to the request, saying that removing all of the funding could deviate the nine city programs and the five private programs that the money was originally going to support. Neeper withdrew his request, as council opened the door to finding alternative ways to increase demolition in the future through a combination of CDBG funds and general funds.
"The new process for CDBG funding is coming up, the 5-year plan where we can look at allocating more money, as well as matching it with city funds, to get double our buck each year to figure some of these problems out," said Jon Neeper, 7th Ward Councilman.
Council passed the allocations seven to one, Neeper was the only no vote. The city administration told council that they have already started the discussion on putting more money in the general fund in the next budget to allow for more demolition.
