The Town of Duck Hill is considering options to preserve the historic Binford United Methodist Church as well as other historic structures in the town.
Lolly Rash with the Mississippi Department of Achieves and History spoke to Mayor Joey Cooley and the board of alderwomen at their regular meeting Monday. Rash said she met Ramona Taylor- Williams at a meeting in Indianola years back and the discussed how the town could preserve the building.
Rash told the board that the first step was signing an ordinance declaring Duck Hill a certified local government. Once that step is completed, Duck Hill could apply for grants and opportunities through the Department of Archives and History.
Then, the town could set which projects they deem as a priority.
“It could be your lovely caboose, it could be the school, it could be downtown,” Rash said. “It’s whatever you feel is priority.”
She said that one part of her job is getting to sightsee, and she’d never been to Duck Hill.
“You have a beautiful town. There’s a lot of potential here, and I can see why you may save it,” she said.
Rash said the grant in which the town may qualify is a 80/20 matching grant, meaning, the grant will fund 80 percent of the project, as a reimbursement, and the town is responsible for 20 percent of the funds.
“So, let’s say the work is $100,000. You would pay for the work, and we would reimburse you $80,000,” she said.
“So, we’d have to pay for the work to be done,” Alderwoman Linda Bennett asked.
Rash said yes, but the MAH understands that there are towns that don’t have a lot liquid funds, and the MDAH is working on creating a loan program.
She said they did a similar project with the Town of Mound Bayou.
Bennett then asked about the interest rate. Rash said it would be a low one.
Alderwoman Shernell Everett told Cooley she had sent him a sample of the ordinance the town needed to approve to take the first step in becoming a Certified Local Government.
