Pam Slater-Price, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors, didn’t respond in time for yesterday’s story on the county’s refusal of money from the federal government to create local jobs.
But she did pass along a statement this afternoon, joining Supervisor Ron Roberts in decrying the county’s Health and Human Services Agency’s decision not to pursue the federal dollars this year:
I am very upset to hear that the county did not apply for federal stimulus funds. We missed this opportunity. In this economy, we cannot afford to pass up any opportunity for funding. I know that there are many categorical grants. Guidelines may have led a grant writer to think the county was not a good fit. Still, for a grant of this size, it would have behooved staff to do further investigation and make the appropriate phone calls. We need the funds.
— KELLY BENNETT