Gov. Robert Bentley has awarded $61,634 to Ashville for a project to help a local company expand and hire 20 new employees.
The Community Development Block Grant will fund infrastructure necessary for Grooms Aluminum Processing to expand in the city’s industrial park. The company, which smelts and refines nonferrous metals, plans to erect a building on a 30-acre site. The infrastructure project also will benefit other industries in the industrial park.
“Rural communities and small businesses are important to the economy of Alabama,” Bentley said. “This grant will help with road improvements at the Ashville Industrial Park, helping Grooms Aluminum and other businesses at the park be successful, continue to grow and provide additional job opportunities for people in the area.”
Bentley notified Mayor David Thompson that the grant had been approved.
The city will supplement the grant with $15,408 and use the money to upgrade an industrial park road, making it more durable and better able to withstand the heavy-truck traffic required for Grooms Aluminum and other industrial park businesses.
The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grant from funds made available to the state by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. ADECA administers a wide range of programs that support law enforcement, economic development, infrastructure upgrades, recreation, energy, water resources, job training and career development.
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Contact Jim Plott or Larry Childers