Council approves $41,460 Alta amendment to pursue Safe Streets demonstration grant; budget, CIP amended

The Mill Creek City Council on May 20, 2025 approved a $41,460 contract amendment with Alta Planning and Design to prepare conceptual designs, cost estimates and grant narratives to support a federal Safe Streets demonstration and implementation grant application. The council also adopted budget and capital improvement plan amendments to provide $40,000 of additional funding for the safety action plan project; both measures passed on unanimous 6‑0 votes.

Presenting the request, the city’s project lead (identified in the meeting as Mr. Bean) told the council Alta will complete conceptual design plans and budgets for potential demonstration projects — including intersection and corridor options discussed in the prior meeting — and prepare narrative, budget and schedule materials required by the grant. Bean said the grant deadline is June 26 and that Alta must deliver draft materials to the city on a tight timeline to allow final revisions before submission.

Bean stated the consultant work “is a lot of effort just to get this done in 5 weeks” and gave a total contract figure of $41,466 (the council motion capped the amendment at $41,460). Finance staff recommended funding the amendment from the road improvement fund (fund 318) rather than the general‑purpose ARPA/one‑time funds; staff said there is sufficient surplus in fund 318 for the 2025–26 budget year.

Council members asked how large a grant the city might pursue; staff said the final grant target is not yet known but that they anticipate “something in the millions” depending on the conceptual design and cost estimates Alta produces. Council member Steckler clarified that the requested $40,000 amendment appears in two budget lines but the net cash increase is $40,000; staff confirmed the CIP project ST0003 will increase from about $240,000 to roughly $280,000 to reflect the amendment.

Mayor Pro Tem and others framed the amendment as an investment to pursue potentially larger federal matching funds that could change project scope; as one council member put it, the city would spend a modest amount now to try for a grant that could enable a more extensive safety project rather than a small crossing that the current capital plan funds.

Two formal motions were made and passed. The first authorized the city manager to execute the contract amendment with Alta not to exceed $41,460; the second ordinance amended the 2025–26 budget and the 2025–2030 capital improvement plan to provide the additional funding for the safety action plan project. Both measures passed 6‑0.

Why it matters: staff told the council the Alta work will create substantive conceptual designs and cost estimates needed to compete for federal demonstration funds that could finance multi‑hundred‑thousand to multi‑million‑dollar safety projects on corridors such as 30th Avenue and Mill Creek Boulevard. If awarded, the grants would require a local match and would change the city’s capital‑project sequencing.

Next steps: Alta will prepare 10–15% conceptual plans, budgets, and grant narratives on the timetable presented; staff expects to submit the grant application in late June. The council amended the budget and CIP to ensure the project is funded through the grant application phase.