CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Bradley County has moved up the federal funding priority list for a veterans nursing home, the county veterans affairs office announced Thursday.
Larry McDaris, director of the veterans office, said Bradley County is now No. 51 on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs list in its Priority Group One. The county had been 123rd on the VA’s Priority Group 6 list in 2009.
The new list was approved Dec. 22 by Eric K. Shinseki, U.S. secretary of veterans affairs, Mr. McDaris said.
Mr. McDaris listed seven points to be considered with the new listing.
* There are 53 construction projects across the country in Priority Group One with only two below Bradley County.
* The veterans home project for Montgomery County/Clarksville is No. 44 on the list this year for Tennessee.
* The estimated grant cost for all Priority Group One applicants, which have state and local matching funds, is $405 million.
* It will take $348.5 million in spending to get to Bradley County.
* Of the 53 priority applications in Group One, only seven are for new homes. The others are for repairs, replacements, remodels or additions to existing facilities.
* By far the most expensive projects on the new list are Redding and Fresno, Calif. Together they total more than $140 million or more than one-third of the total cost for Priority One projects for 2010. Those projects were Nos. 3 and 4 last year, but are Nos. 5 and 6 on the 2010 list. If they are passed over again this year, it would take $208.5 million in spending to reach Bradley County on the list.
“A key ingredient in all this is the total federal appropriation for VA construction in 2010,” Mr. McDaris said.
County Mayor D. Gary Davis said it is good news that the local effort “is getting some traction at the state and federal levels.”
“Being positioned at No. 51 nationwide in Priority Group One is significant,” he said. “It is also a testament to the hard work of County VA Services Director Larry McDaris as well as John Simmons, who worked so hard to make this project a reality before his untimely death.”
The news of Bradley County’s move up on the list came just two days after state and local officials and friends gathered to honor the memory of Mr. Simmons, a longtime veterans advocate who died last summer.
Tennessee Veterans Affairs Commissioner John Keys and others said they believe a veterans nursing home to serve Southeast Tennessee will be achieved. Part of that credit will be due to Mr. Simmons, Mr. Keys said.