An explanation regarding Onslow’s USDA grant

To the Editor, 

I am writing this letter to the editor to set the record straight about the $212,289.71 grant money that was returned to the USDA. 

The grant was for $343,175. It came with a USDA loan for a sewer project for Onslow in 2012. 

Over the next four years, most of the Onslow City Council members changed, as did the city clerk and mayor. USDA personnel told the current mayor they tried repeatedly to contact the Onslow City Clerk and mayor to use the money. Instead of spending the money to improve Onslow, the clerk returned the $212,289.71 to the USDA in June 2017, a few months before the grant even expired. 

In July 2019, the interim mayor discovered the June 2017 letter returning the grant money to the USDA. 

Now Onslow has a new mayor, city clerk, and four out of five council members have changed. We wish we had the grant money to spend for the betterment of Onslow.

Betty Jordan

Onslow Council member