Apalachicola awarded Senior Center Grant

The City of Apalachicola is the proud recipient of a $1,500,000 Senior Citizen Center Capital Outlay grant from the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. Governor Charlie Crist and Secretary of the Department of Elder Affairs Dr. Doug Beach announced the award at a groundbreaking ceremony in Miami Friday, November 21.

The 2008 Florida Legislature appropriated $10,000,000 for statewide use with State Representative Will S. Kendrick securing $1,500,000 out of the pot for the City of Apalachicola.

The funds will go toward the renovation of the Historic Holy Family School located on Dr. Fredrick Humphries Street for a dedicated center where seniors can congregate without interruptions.

The City Commission first gave staff the go ahead to apply for funding in late November 2007. However, at that time the State awarded the grant to several South Florida communities. On July 8, the commission again gave staff the nod to reapply and with the help of Kendrick, the City submitted a successful application.

Other Florida communities awarded the Category 3 grant were the City of Gainesville, which received $2 Million and Miami-Dade County, which also received $2 Million.

Commission Report: August 5, 2008

The following are items discussed or acted upon by the Apalachicola City Council at our regular scheduled meeting held last night.

• Tabled a request made by the Chamber of Commerce to close a portion of road for their annual Oyster Roast until the item can be placed on the September meeting agenda for public discussion.

• City Administrator Betty Taylor-Webb announced that she and Chief Bobby Varnes, Jr., would be working together to conduct random drug tests on police officers and other city employees.

• After receiving complaints from residents in the area, the council instructed Chief Varnes to discourage the non-traditional use and activites at the Park located on Sixth Street adjacent to the Franklin Square Recreation Center.

• City Grant Writer, Cindi Giametta informed the Board that she submitted on behalf of the city and was awarded an $86,000 grant to perform electrical work at the Battery Park Marina, and that the grant application from the Florida Department of Elder Affairs for the construction and renovation of Senior Citizen Centers was submitted.

• Attorney Pat Floyd discussed the request made by the Supervisor of Elections office to address the problems associated with the current city run-off elections. Click HERE to read the letter received from the supervisor of election office.

• Commissioner Jimmy Elliott initiated and moved to designate July 12 as Jimmy Mosconis Day in the City of Apalachicola and to rename a portion of the Street that runs through the Orman House State Park after Mosconis.

• By way of a motion, city commissioners instructed the planning and zoning board to delayed working on revisions to the Riverfront zoning until after updates to the City’s economic development plan are completed. The last update to the plan was in 1989 as an element of the Land Development Code.

City Apply for Senior Citizen Grant

For the second time and less than a year, the City Commission approved an application to the Department of Elder Affairs for a 1.2 million-capital outlay grant to preserve and adapt the historic Holy Family Catholic School on 7th Street into a Culture/Social Service Center for Senior Citizens and other community usage.

At our July 8, regular meeting, the Commission agreed to allow staff to resubmit the grant application for reconsideration by the State.