Aberdeen American News | October 31, 2003
When farmers think about the U.S. Department of Agriculture, they probably don't often associate it with the office of Rural Development.
The office, though, is a branch at the USDA that offers a variety of benefits to farming communities. And at Aberdeen's Rural Development post, there have been some changes in the past couple months.
Bruce Jones is the new director of the Rural Development office in Aberdeen. Janell Telin has taken his spot as manager.
While they have new titles,
neither Jones nor Telin is new to Rural Development. Jones has been working in the Aberdeen Rural Development office since 1992. Telin worked for the Farm Service Agency for 15 years before moving across the hall to Rural Development about three years ago.
The Aberdeen office oversees eight counties: Brown, Roberts, Walworth, Day, Marshall, Edmunds, Campbell and McPherson.
Jones said Rural Development has three focuses:
Business service.
Utility service.
Housing service.
"We're not directly involved in the farm business, but we give grants to the non-profit groups or the (communities ag producers live in and near)," Jones said.
Rural Development was formed in 1995. Before then it was a part of the Farmers Home Administration. Now, though, it doesn't deal with farm loan and payment programs.
It does, however, work with many active groups in the area such as the Northeast Council of Governments in Aberdeen and the Northeast South Dakota Economic Development Corp. in Sisseton. Those organizations can secure 30-year loans at 1 percent interest so they can help provide funding for local governments, businesses and individuals.
That's the business service side of Rural Development. On the utility side, it oversees water and environmental programs. It provided aid to the BDM and WEB water projects. Both efforts have many agricultural users.
Rural Development is also in charge of the former Rural Electric Association programs that help telephone and electric programs.
Jones and Telin, however, are most excited about the prospect of the Rural Housing Service and its possible expansion. Not only have aspects of it helped make improvements at the Britton hospital and Sisseton-Wahpeton Community College in recent years, but a guaranteed housing program may soon be available to Aberdeen residents.
Federal lawmakers are contemplating a measure aimed at increasing the use of the program. The Hub City benefitted from it for the first time this year as part of a six-month trial that ended in September. Generally, though, such programs aren't available to communities with populations of more than 20,000 people.
Whether the law will be approved isn't known. If it is, communities with decreasing populations below 25,000 would be eligible. It would allow financial institutions to lend as much as a property's full assessed value to home builders. Rural Development would then protect the financial institutions against that possible loss.
There are income guidelines for the program, which encourages more affordable housing for people with low and moderate incomes.
Jones said Washington will work at its own pace, but if the measure is approved, he hopes the housing program will be running in Aberdeen by next spring. Telin said about 40 people and families took advantage of it during the three-month trial period.
The Aberdeen post was recently honored with the Rural Development Blue-Ribbon Award for excellency in Rural Housing programs.
For more information on Rural Development, visit www.rurdev.usda.gov on the Internet or call (605) 226-3360, ext. 4.Aberdeen American News:
