WAURIKA — Drip. Drip. Drip.

For quite some time, workers at the Jefferson County Courthouse have wondered how much longer the leaks in the structure’s roof can continue dripping before there’s some serious water damage.

Courthouse employees and members of the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners hold their collective breath every time there’s a heavy rain fall on the building, envisioning potential problems that range from vital documents being destroyed to sections of the ceiling becoming so water-logged they simply collapse.

But some of that anxiety is about to be relieved. If the courthouse roof can survive through the rest of the winter, there’s help on the way in the form of a $37,175 Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) grant that Jefferson County District 1 is receiving.

The Association of South Central Oklahoma Governments (ASCOG) approved several REAP grant applications this month, and one was the request District 1 Commissioner Billy Kidd put together asking for funding to repair the courthouse roof and caulk windows at the historic building.

“We’re really happy ASCOG approved our request, because that roof has needed fixing for a long time,” Kidd said, after ASCOG had held its quarterly meeting. “We’re going to recoat the roof with poly-roofing and we’re also going to reseal all the windows.

“The roof’s been leaking for a long time and water has also been leaking around some of the windows — and there are about 80 windows in the building.

“I don’t know how long it’s been since the roof was repaired, but we need to stop the leaks before the water ruins something or something happens even worse than that.”

Kidd said ASCOG will officially distribute REAP funds in January, but due to the timing, work on the roof won’t actually begin “until the warm weather gets here.”

Reroofing is just one project the commissioners have discussed to renovate the courthouse. They’ve also outlined a plan for a sidewalk project at the facility, but the roof repair was considered a higher priority.

“We’ll just try to get a grant for the sidewalk project later,” Kidd noted.

In addition to the REAP approval for District 1, ASCOG also gave the OK to three other grant request from Jefferson County entities.

The City of Waurika, getting support from the cities of Comanche and Ryan and from Jefferson County District 3, received $158,000 to construct a new Oklahoma Department of Corrections work center.

The Township of Addington received a $45,000 REAP grant to assist with a road and drainage improvements project that’s already in progress, and the Township of Terral received a grant of $45,000 that will allow the community to replace two pumps for its sewer lift station and replace sewer lines.

Terral will seek an outside company to accomplish work on its sewer project, but Kidd said District 1 will be assisting Addington with its streets and drainage project.

“We’ve been helping Addington with that since last year, and we’ve already got the patch work done. The streets need to be chipped and sealed, which is why (the township) wanted another REAP grant,” he said.

The Oklahoma legislature created the REAP grant allocation in 1996 to provide funding to rural communities and un-incorporated areas with populations under 7,000. It’s administered by the 11 councils of government, and the funds are used to help rural communities and areas in economic development, infrastructure and community facility projects.

For fiscal year 2011, ASCOG is allocating $1,194,083 in REAP grants to some of the eight local governments in its administrative area.