By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A committee of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners has approved a local match for a grant that will aid in broadband planning efforts.

The Public Safety and Infrastructure and Development Committee met Monday evening and approved the local match for the SEMCOG Planning Assistance Program Grant for Transportation Equity and Sustainable Infrastructure - which had to be approved due to a slight oversight.

County Administrator Nathan Burd stated that he brought the resolution forward to clarify where the matching funds need to come from for the grant the county already received. The grant was for $40,000, with a required 18.15% match from the county. Burd said in his zeal to use American Rescue Plan Act funds for that, he either forgot or failed to realize that a federal source can’t be used to match a federal source grant.

Burd requested that the matching funds instead come from the general fund GF contingency and noted there is ample funding there to make that happen. He added that usually a dollar amount this size can be approved administratively but since it had gone through a resolution previously, he just wanted it to be very clear where the match would be paid from.

County Department of Planning Director Kathleen Kline-Hudson reported that they did receive the grant, which was good news. She said the amount they received was $38,000, which was $2,000 less than what they requested. Therefore, Kline-Hudson said they were asking for the match of 18.15 % or $7,260 as well as an additional $2,000 to accommodate the shortfall in awarded grant funds.

The Committee unanimously authorized a transfer of funds in the amount of $9,260.

A memo states the grant funds will be used to pay for broadband planning efforts that will include a plan, strategy, or feasibility study for coordinating, expanding, and/or improving broadband availability, access, affordability, and digital literacy.