The Village of Rhineland received a $676,296 grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development’s Community Development Block Grant program that will help make improvements on its street infrastructure system for erosion control and street paving.

A total of 14 people that included city officials and representatives from the MDED and Boonslick Regional Planning Commission attended a meeting on June 9 at Rhineland City Hall to talk about the grant.

One of the CDBG representatives, manager Brandon Jenson, was in attendance. He wrote a letter to Steve Wehrle, who is the chairman of the Village of Rhineland, on Feb. 15, announcing that the grant was approved.

“To some people, I know $680,000 means the world,” Jenson said. “To some people, it may not seem like much, but I’m excited for what it’s going to do for the community.”

The Village of Rhineland worked with BRPC on the grant proposal for a year. Larry Hagedorn, who is a Rhineland trustee, credits Mikala Walton for helping the town receive the grant.

“Without Mikala, I don’t think we would be sitting here,” Hagedorn said.

Walton remembers working on the grant with no lights, internet and furniture at her home.

“This project is special to me because this was the very first thing I worked on when I came to Boonslick two years ago,” Walton said. “I remember the first task that I was given was doing the proposal for this grant. I even went home at night and worked on it.”

The Community Development Block Grant program helps communities develop public infrastructure that gives industries an opportunity to locate new facilities, increase existing facilities and prevent the closing or a relocation of a facility.

“The CDBG program is designed to help communities through any tough times they are experiencing,” Jenson said. “We have funding for regular projects if you have planned out for the future of your community, whether there are new facilities that you need or improvements in infrastructure. But we also have our long-term recovery program, which the Regional Planning Commission is really in tune with and is able to help communities access.”

Kirby Scheer of Scheer Design Group said he is happy that the town got a grant to help fix its streets.

“Over time, the streets are at a point where if we take care of them now, they can get several more years out of them,” Scheer said. “But if they get ignored for another few years, they are going to have major problems. It’s a maintenance issue that comes with time. Luckily, they’re getting this grant. Hopefully, it will help them take care of the problems and get several more years out of the infrastructure.”

Rhineland is located in the southern part of Montgomery County, just 10 minutes from Hermann. Thirty years ago, it was hit hard by a massive flood that forced residents to move uphill.

“The first flood happened in 1986,” Wehrle said. “We had a little restaurant and tavern. It had a foot of water in it and my house had a foot of water in it. When 1993 came, there were three feet in the restaurant and tavern and three feet in my house.”

Hagedorn said city officials are talking about expanding Rhineland.

“Homes are needed,” Hagedorn said. “People have nowhere to go. Hermann is full. There is no place in Hermann to go. We’re talking about 60 acres of undeveloped property. We’re talking about grants that might be able to put in an infrastructure and a new business section to go with. We’re talking about maybe blasting a bluff and adding more business along Highway 94 and more residential (buildings) to grow our town.”