Seabrook council approves task order for grant application work with O'Brien, not to exceed $15,750

The Seabrook City Council on June 24 approved Task Order 2 under the city’s professional services agreement with Whit O’Brien for an amount not to exceed $15,750 to support an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation SS4A (Safe Streets and Roads for All) grant program.

Gail, a city staff member, told the council the task order continues work begun under Task Order 1 and will fund staff and consultant work to develop a required safety action plan. “This grant is revolving around doing safe roads and they have to see that we actually have a safety action plan and we do not,” Gail said. She said the planning work — the safety action plan — would need to be completed this funding year so the city could seek construction funding in 2026.

Gail described the planning grant cost profile: the safety action plan itself is in the range of about $250,000 to $280,000; the program is structured as an 80/20 federal/local split, but “all of our personnel time … can be credited against the city's 20%,” she said, meaning the city likely would not need to write a local cash check for the match. Gail also said Task Order 1 had been approved for $8,000 and that the consultant completed research within that budget.

Council member Hammond moved to approve Task Order 2; Council member Tillett seconded. The transcript records the vote as unanimous; no roll‑call of individual yes votes appears in the meeting record.

Ending: Staff said a separate council resolution to submit the SS4A application will appear later on the agenda; council approval of the task order allows staff to proceed with the planning and application work.