Montgomery County Commissioner president John Frey spent time Tuesday sharing what commissioners have been planning with members of the Montgomery County Council.
The joint meeting was conducted to help the council, which includes three newly elected members, better understand what commissioners have on their priority list.
“I wanted to meet with you to better explain projects in the works and our wish list,” Frey said. “The commissioners want you to understand the challenges and how they affect paying for growth.”
Frey said commissioners have set priorities including controlled population growth, quality of place, health, and safety, maintain and improve existing assets and infrastructure and create an environment where residents, businesses and industry can survive.
Some of the larger county projects in the works now are the Nucor overpass on U.S. 136 East and the C.R. 250E extension. The Purple Heart Parkway extension to Ladoga Road is also moving forward.
The commissioners’ list includes a total of 16 projects, many of which are not started until funds are acquired. The list is expected to take several years to complete and could change quickly to better meet the demands that might arise.
The county received $7.4 million from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act. Frey said the $6 million has been used for the following projects: Mace Capital Project ($336,000); Mace Project engineering ($217,000); Tempur Sealy Water Project ($3.7 million); and the Tempur Sealy sewer project ($1.8 million). There is a remaining unused balance of $1.3 million.
Financial advisor Jeff Peters explained how the county funded the Tempur Sealy project using a variety of funding mechanisms including grants, TIF funds and bonds. Frey said at the end of the day, Tempur Sealey will pay the bonds with county taxes from the mattress company.
New council member Steve Loy thanked Frey for the update and information and said he hoped this would not be the only time the two government bodies would meet.
“This has been really helpful in getting us information and helping us to get on the same page with the commissioners,” Loy said. “I hope we can do this again.”
Frey also sees value in the joint meetings and hopes communication between to the two bodies will continue.
“We are all on the same team and this helps us be on the same page,” Frey said
