BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Hampton’s City Clerk said the town is backing away from a state grant because of burdensome reporting requirements and excessive regulations.
Mary Lou Hildreth said she applied for and was eventually approved for a $120,000 Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services energy conservation grant. The money was intended to install solar lighting at Bobby Sheppard Park and replace the air conditioning and heating system, roof, and lighting at city hall.
The clerk complained that, throughout the application process, grant administrators were unresponsive to her questions and aggressive in disqualifying potential expenditures.
The clerk added that the grant was specifically targeted to fiscally challenged, smaller governments that do not have grant specialists to work through complex grant processes.
She said that grant administrators questioned or criticized Hampton’s plans to meet the grant requirements at every turn. She added that she did not want the town to spend money on the upgrades and fail to receive reimbursement from the state.
