Monterey Fails To Receive CDBG Grant

The town of Monterey has received notice that it failed to receive a Community Development Block Grant that it applied for earlier this year.

Officials said that grant would have helped replace some aging sewer lines across the town.

It’s not the first time Monterey has failed to received a CDBG. Mayor Bill Wiggins said that’s because many of those grants go to distressed communities.

“If you look at Monterey, in particular, I’m sure we would be pretty high on the charts as distressed in terms on resources,” Wiggins said. “But, we are in Putnam County and saddled up with Cookeville and Algood where there is vibrant activity going on so we don’t score will because of that affiliation apparently.”

Wiggins said he hopes that scoring criteria will change down the road.

In the meantime, city officials will discuss re-applying for the grant, but they aren’t sure if they will use it for the sewer line rehabilitation or for something else.