A grant to improve Bogue Chitto streets ison its way to Lincoln County from the Mississippi DevelopmentAuthority.

    The MDA has awarded the county $100,000 from a program for smallcities and counties, said District Three Supervisor NolanWilliamson Tuesday morning.

    The money will be used for street repair and repaving in the BogueChitto community, which is inside Williamson’s district.

    “I want to get the streets up where the people can ride,” saidWilliamson, who is also president of the county’s board ofsupervisors.

    A grant addressing the streets will allow the county to catch up onother much-needed work in Bogue Chitto, Williamson said. Work to bedone includes moving gas lines and water lines.

    Woody Sample, of Sample, Hicks and Associates, worked with the cityon the grant application.

    Sample said at least four streets will be targeted through thegrant money. Some streets are by Bogue Chitto Attendance Center andothers in residential areas, according to Sample.

    No matching funds from the county are required by the grantterms.

    Bogue Chitto became available to receive funds from the SmallMunicipalities and Limited Population County grant program in2009.

    District 53 Rep. Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, sponsored legislationcreating the designation of municipal historical hamlets. BogueChitto applied and became Mississippi’s first historical hamlet in2009 and thus became eligible for certain grants, Moak said in aninterview Friday.

    Williamson is glad to finally receive funds from MDA as he’s soughtmoney for Bogue Chitto every year since the community becameeligible.

    “I have been close before, and it’s been turned down,” Williamsonsaid. “I hope it doesn’t get hung up this time around.”

    MDA usually funds around 15 to 20 applications from the smallcommunity grant program, Sample said. Lincoln County’s August 2011application faced some competition for those slots.

    “They had a bunch of applications,” Sample said.

    The $100,000 is the full amount applied for by the county. Samplesaid the final award amount does not typically vary much from therequested amount.

    Moak learned of the award last week. By protocol, MDA contacts thesenator or representative of the area first and then the board ofsupervisors, Sample said.

    Moak’s 2009 bill allowed a community to apply for hamlet status ifit was formerly a city, town or village that lost its charterbefore 1945. A hamlet’s population must also be under 600.

    Moak said his bill allowed Bogue Chitto to go after grant money itnever could have received otherwise.