Federal funds boost Ayden Police Department

AYDEN — Nearly $1 million in federal Community Project funds will go toward vehicles and technology for the Ayden Police Department, one of 15 communities in the region to receive the funds.

U.S. Rep. Don Davis, the Democrat representing North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, announced that $963,000 will make help the department make the upgrades during a visit Monday when he presented a ceremonial check for the funds.

Chief David Dempsey said the majority of that money will be allocated toward new vehicles in its fleet and surveillance cameras around town, with any leftover funding going toward other technology.

“We have a town that we’re proud of as far as safety goes, but we have some things that this particular grant is going to provide for us that we need to make Ayden a much stronger and better place,” said Ayden Mayor Ivory Mewborn. “Ayden is on the rise and we intend to be the best small town to live east of I-95.”

Davis planned to visit communities throughout the district with similar presentations, including one for the Greenville Police Department, which received $1.4 million. Kris Aleksander, Davis’ communications director, said those funds will support 220 new body-worn cameras and 80 in-car cameras along with the technology to support those cameras. The new equipment will improve data storage for the department, which currently must make compact disc copies of footage and printed documents.

A spokeswoman for the department said that Sen. Thom Tillis also was instrumental in getting that funding for the department. A Wednesday presentation today featuring both congressmen was closed to the public due to limited space, she said.

Rounding out Community Project Funding for Pitt County was an approximately $1.16 million allocation to the Town of Grimesland for street repaving. Suellen Weaver, the town’s finance clerk, said the paving will take place on all streets maintained by the town. A timeline for such a project has not been established, she said.

“It’s just all the in-town roads,” Weaver said. “We have some roads that are in really bad shape. That’s just something a little small town like us, we just don’t have the funds to repave all those roads.”

Davis said the Pitt County projects total $3,479,279 and made up three of 15 projects that were approved for Community Project Funding use. Those projects span eight counties in the 1st Congressional District, with an emphasis on law enforcement and infrastructure.

The projects across the district totaled over $13.1 million, the Snow Hill congressman said.

“One of the things that I ran on and that I shared with the people in eastern North Carolina is that so often we feel forgotten, we feel left out,” Davis said. “We’ve covered all 19 counties, we’ve made over 140 visits, listening to community leaders, elected officials, hearing what their most critical needs are and responding to those.”

This round of funding came through weeks ago, Davis said, and was recently signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Elsewhere, the Town of Nashville was allocated $959,752 for its Regency & Essex Sewer Extension. The project’s proposal said it will provide sewer service to 45 residents whose 50-year-old septic systems have failed or are failing and cannot be replaced because their lots are too small to construct a replacement system and suitably contain it by modern standards.

In Spring Hope, $1 million was allocated to the restoration and renovation of the historic Spaulding School Building for space including community classrooms, a computer lab, a public library and public meeting spaces for seniors and children. The money will also fund administrative offices for staff and collaborators as well as an HVAC system in the building’s gymnasium.

Other communities in the district to receive money included Henderson, Elizabeth City, Robersonville, Roanoke Rapids, Weldon, Columbia and Plymouth.