SUMMERDALE — Baldwin County and local municipalities agreed to work together on federal grants for hurricane recovery that could total more than $43 million.

At a meeting with county commissioners and Baldwin County mayors, officials agreed to ask the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs to oversee the program to provide relief funds for unmet needs from Hurricanes Sally and Zeta. The money would come through federal Community Development Block Grants.

Commission Chairman Jeb Ball said having ADECA oversee the funding rather than the county would be more efficient.

"What we're really here for today is to ask for mayors of Baldwin County to support us in allowing the state to take this money over instead of the county taking this money over," Ball said. "The county is not in a position staff-wise, time-wise with all the stuff we've got going on to manage this money."

Kathy McHugh, county grants administrator, said Baldwin County is eligible for about $43 million in CDBG funding. About $19 million of that total would be for housing and $23 million for mitigation, economic development and infrastructure.

McHugh said the best way to distribute the money is to have the local communities deal directly with the state rather than have the county act as an intermediary.

"As proposed right now, the money would come to the Baldwin County Commission," McHugh told mayors. "The commission would, in turn, coordinate with y'all about what projects you want. Then, we would make the decision, enter into an agreement with y'all and pass the money through and then hold y'all responsible for meeting all the criteria. That's effectively what ADECA said would happen. That's not what the commission wants. That's not what the staff recommends. It's a situation that just doesn't work."

Under the program, Baldwin County would receive 30% of the money available for the region. The city of Mobile would receive 40% and Mobile County would get 21%. The remaining funds would go to other counties affected by the storms.

McHugh said the program is intended to address unmet needs after the storm. She said many Baldwin County communities and property owners worked with agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration to address needs since the 2020 hurricanes.

"When you look at the numbers in terms of folks who applied for assistance from FEMA, SBA, the numbers for Baldwin County trump anybody, our citizens are being responsible," she said. "They're doing the right thing and they're going out there and applying and getting the money they're supposed to be getting to recover."

She said county and city officials are also working to increase the amount of money coming to Baldwin County under the program. She said grant criteria did not address factors such as the overall size of the area affected or the fact that tourists increase the number of people in the county at any given time.

"One of the things that they didn't consider at all is the size of the county. We're the biggest county in the state. We're certainly bigger than Mobile and these other counties impacted," McHugh said. "We also had a study that was done for the recycle facility and they quantified the number equivalent for full-time residents relative to the number of tourists that we have here. Some of you may already know this number, I was shocked to hear it. It's a little over 95,000 people. So, when you're considering population in this formula for how much money we're getting, why not consider that, the tourist population as well. We're hoping that moves the needle, so we go from a $43 million commitment to a higher dollar amount."

Foley Mayor Ralph Hellmich said that while some areas of Baldwin County may not qualify for as much funding as others, the area would be better off working together on the grants.

"There are areas that need worse than others," Hellmich said. "There are some that are not going to qualify for any of this. So, I think we ought to all identify our projects and I think it's a great idea that well all sign the letter and get together because they always tell us that if we all work together, we have a better chance of getting what we want."