GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. — The City of Green Cove Springs is receiving $700,000 out of $29 million in grants to 42 small, rural communities throughout the state, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced in a news conference Monday morning.
The Department of Economic Opportunity's Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program will allow Green Cove Springs to complete three neighborhood revitalization projects, DeSantis said from Green Cove Springs City Hall.
Scroll down to watch the full remarks from DeSantis' news conference.
Funding will go toward replacing stormwater pipe that is more than 50 years old, installing sidewalk curb, asphalt and landscaping on West Street; installing more than 1.5 miles of sidewalk on Highland Avenue and Center Street; and installing picnic tables and benches at Vera Francis Hall Park, the governor said.
The grants are awarded to cities with a population of fewer than 50,000 people, or counties with an unincorporated population of fewer than 200,000 people, DeSantis said. Monday's announcement marks nearly $60 million in block grants to small cities in rural communities across the state since DeSantis took office, he said. Nine million dollars of that has gone to Clay county alone.
"Clay County has been able to punch above its weight in many respects," DeSantis said. "When I became governor, the appropriations chairman in both the House and the Senate were both from Clay County. And they did very well for this area. And I know you've got a lot of good folks in the legislature still, some that will be in leadership in the future. So I think it's been a community that's been able to produce a lot of people that have made a positive impact. And I think you see that with how thriving the community is."
DeSantis said the state has $75 million remaining in his administration's job growth grant fund that can be awarded to cities or counties for workforce or infrastructure projects. Local communities would have to apply for a grant and put up some of their own funding in order to be awarded funding.
"We'll look at those applications and basically we want to be able to use our resources to make the biggest impact across Florida," DeSantis said. "And I know that there will be opportunities for us to be doing that here in Northeast Florida."
The governor also spoke about the challenges facing law enforcement agencies about recruiting and retaining officers. He said the tragedy in Surfside highlights the ongoing need for strong support of first responders.
"Some take it for granted, but when you have those types of situations, those are the folks that are there to be able to handle the situations that happen," DeSantis said. "And obviously this building is a once-in-a-lifetime type thing. It was really really tragic and we'll obviously be able to get all the answers in due time about why it happened. But you have all these things that can happen -- who do you want there doing it? You need the people in uniform."