The City of Greenville has increased funding for two organizations in an effort to increase economic and commercial development in the area.

At its Oct. 7 meeting, the city council approved a $20,000 increase for the Butler County Commission for Economic Development and a $5,000 increase for the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Economic development is changing, and we felt like we needed to invest more money in things like workforce development,” Mayor Dexter McLendon said. “This is something that we felt like we needed to do to be able to attract more industry to the area, and it’s an investment in our community. It’s money we’ll get back if we’re able to bring in more jobs.”

McLendon said the decision to increase the allocation to the Chamber was made in part because of its role in commercial and economic development and in part because of a desire not to have to increase dues for Chamber members.

“We’re beginning to ask them to do more and play a bigger role in economic development, along with their role in commercial development, and that takes money,” McLendon said. “The Chamber and the Butler County Commission for Economic Development work hand in hand to help bring jobs to the area.”

The city is now allocating $80,000 to the BCCED and $25,000 to the Chamber.

The council also voted to approve the following contracts:

• $100,000 to the Butler County Commission to house prisoners at the Butler County Correctional facility, and $5.50 a day per inmate to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office for a meal allowance.
• $2,728.38 per month to Quality Correctional Health Care to provide medical care to the city’s prisoners.
• $7,140 to the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center for the Greenville Police Department’s access to the Criminal Justice Network.
• $1,000 per month plus $13 per euthanization to the Butler County Commission for pound services.
• $24,000 to James Travis Capps, Sr. to serve as manager of Mac Crenshaw Memorial Airport manager.
• An agreement between Capps and the City of Greenville in which Capps pays $250 per month to lease the airport facilities, plus 5 cents for each gallon of fuel sold at the airport.
• A $10,000 service contract with the Butler County Children’s Advocacy Center for providing social services to the children of Butler County at no cost.
• A $1,000 service contract with the Covington County Chapter of the American Red Cross for providing local disaster relief services at no cost to residents of Greenville and Butler County.
• A $2,500 service contract with the Family Sunshine Center for providing social services to Greenville area families.
• An agreement with the Greenville Housing Authority in which it pays the salary and benefits of one fulltime investigator and extra-duty hours not to exceed $48,000 to the City of Greenville.