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Archives
1-12-2005
City, county receive Three-Star status
courtesy photo Gov. Phil Bredesen and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber joined community leaders from across the state to celebrate Tennessee's Three-Star communities at this year's Governor's Conference on Economic and Community Development. The governor officially recognized 74 communities, including Livingston-Overton County, for earning this distinguished certification. Community leaders accepted the award recently during a special awards luncheon and ceremony held at Nashville Convention Center. Kisber said, "Gov. Bredesen and I are pleased to congratulate these outstanding communities for their achievements in this program. Our goal with this program was to develop something that would be more comprehensive and beneficial to communities and help them close the gap between economic stagnancy and competitiveness. "The program's focus on education, community leadership, and infrastructure helps local communities identify key marketing strengths to grow and retain jobs, improve quality of life, and better prepare for sustainable growth." The state's redesigned Three-Star Program has set high standards and incentives like no other state-run program in the nation. It is being hailed as a best practices model among community development initiatives assisting both urban and rural communities in developing strategic economic and community development plans that meet the needs and challenges of an ever-changing economic environment. The Three-Star Program assists communities in preserving existing employment, creating new employment opportunities, improving family income, and creating a strong leadership base for economic development. The program has steadily grown as communities work with the state to increase their appeal as locations for new business and industry. In order to receive the certification, communities are required to meet a number of criteria in organizational, community, business, education, and work force development categories. Incentives for receiving the certification include identification on all FastTrack infrastructure and job training applications; eligibility for matching grants, if criteria is set by ECD; and the advantage of earning points in the Community Development Grant (CDBG) process. Joe Barker, ECD assistant commissioner of community development, said, "The key to successful community development is the implementation of programs like Three-Star which set practical and manageable steps, that if followed, will mean better prepared communities for growth. "This program steers Tennessee communities in the right direction to reach the destination of successful economic development." For more information about the Three-Star Program
visit online at www.tnecd.gov.
County Clerk's office broken into last week An undisclosed amount of cash was taken last week when Overton County Clerk Hugh L. Ogletree's office was broken into. The break-in was discovered Thursday morning when the office was to be opened for business. The office is located in Overton County Courthouse Annex on University Street. According to Livingston Police Department, entry was gained by forcing a door open. After entry, the culprit found and opened a money drawer and took the money that was inside. Livingston Police Department is investigating the case.
Overton County awarded food, shelter funds Overton County has been chosen to receive $10,653 to supplement emergency food and shelter programs in the county. The selection was made by a national board chaired by Federal Emergency Management Agency and consists of representatives from The Salvation Army, American Red Cross, United Jewish Communities, Catholic Charities USA, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and United Way of America. The local board was charged to distribute funds appropriated by Congress to help expand the capacity of food and shelter programs in high-need areas around the country. The local board, made up of elected officials and other community representatives, will determine how the funds awarded to Overton County are to be distributed among the emergency food and shelter programs run by local service agencies in the area. The local board is responsible for recommending agencies to receive these funds and any additional funds available under this phase of the program. Under the terms of the grant from the national board, local agencies chosen to receive funds must: be private voluntary nonprofits or units of government; have an accounting system; practice nondiscrimination; have demonstrated the capacity to deliver emergency food and/or shelter programs; and, if they are a private voluntary organization, they must have a voluntary board. Qualifying agencies are urged to apply. Overton County has distributed Emergency Food and Shelter funds previously through a number of local and regional service agencies. These agencies were responsible for providing meals, lodging, rent/mortgage assistance, and utility assistance. Qualifying agencies are urged to apply. Further information about the program may be obtained by contacting Dian Dillon, of the UCHRA office in Livingston, at (931) 823-7323. Applications must be delivered to the UCHRA office in Livingston by Thursday, Jan. 27 at 9 a.m. in order to be considered for funding.
Overton County News
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