MOUNT VERNON — On Monday morning, the Knox County Board of Commissioners met with Amy Schocken, senior planner for Community Development Consultants, to finalize the county’s community home improvement program grant application. The application is due Friday; Schocken was present to collect signatures and a resolution of support from the commissioners.
Schocken went over the details of what the CHIP grant would cover for the county, and also supplied a map of the village of Fredericktown, which has been designated as a target area to receive CHIP funds. The total amount of the grant is $500,000, but the awards will not be announced until September. If the funds are received, the projects the grant will fund must be completed by the end of October 2010.
The resolution supporting the CHIP grant application was approved by the commissioners. Schocken also had a document outlining the agreement between the county and habitat for humanity, which was signed at the meeting. The document outlined the responsibilities of both the county and habitat if the CHIP grant funds are received.
The meeting was also attended by Jeanette Carpenter of the Knox County Board of MR/DD, Shannon Treisch of Knox County Metro Housing, John Darmstadt of Knox County Habitat for Humanity, and Gary Gallogly, village administrator of Fredericktown.
Also on Monday morning, the commissioners had a meeting with Roger Shooter, director of Jobs & Family Services. Shooter reported that he and Gloria Parsisson, Children Services administrator, as well as Juvenile Judge James Ronk, would attend the Ohio Summit on Children, a two-day event scheduled for Thursday and Friday. The goals of the summit, according to Shooter, are to “try to work out better coordination for kids and services.” The event is being co-chaired by Gov. Ted Strickland and Ohio Supreme Court Justice Thomas Moyer.
Shooter also presented the unemployment statistics for Knox County and the state. According to estimates, the unemployment rate for the county increased to 6.2 percent in March, from 5.8 percent in February. The March unemployment estimates presented by Shooter place Knox County slightly higher than the statewide unemployment rate of 6.1 percent, and a full percentage point above the national unemployment rate of 5.2 percent. Morgan County was rated as having the highest unemployment rate in the state, at 11.2 percent.
