By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A loan-grant combination used by Worth County to improved its road maintenance equipment is being used as an example of how the USDA can help rural communities.
USDA Rural Development put the $500,000 combination funding together to buy a road grader and excavator for Worth County.
Missouri State Director Kyle Wilkens says Worth County had to form a non-profit to accept the funds necessary to buy the equipment.
“Not only to be able to get that motor grader and get that excavator out their working, but also in setting up the not-for-profit there, in the future if the county has some other needs that we specifically may be able to help with them they already have the not-for-profit set up that we can work with and the process goes a little bit smoother,” Wilkens tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
USDA Rural Development provides funding for housing, businesses, and communities.
Wilkens says the new equipment will help a county road crew too often overwhelmed by its workload.
“In Worth County, they have one county road shed and those folks take care of the whole county,” Wilkens says. “So they need equipment that works so they can get out there and keep working, because they are definitely a busy crew.”
Wilkens says the purchase in Worth County is an example of how USDA Rural Development can help rural counties. He hopes more rural counties will reach out.
“I would implore any rural community in Missouri that has a need that I may have just gone over there, to give us a call and if anything else, just ask. Hey, here’s where we’re at, do you think you all can help? And, if for some reason we can’t, maybe we can find a different avenue for them.”
Wilkens says Worth County needs the new equipment. The county has one road maintenance crew that has to take care of nearly 300 miles of road, mostly of them gravel.