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Officials say regional sewer grant paperwork is with FEMA; council urged to coordinate through state
Summary
City staff and grant consultants updated the council that the sewer regionalization project's FEMA grant packet is under regional review. Consultants said the project meets benefit‑cost tests and urged council members to route any advocacy through the state to avoid disrupting the process.
City staff and consultants updated the Lincoln City Council on the status of a regional sewer project grant application and said the application is pending federal review after recent information requests.
Daniel Schwartz, representing Nexus and working with the city on the grant, told the council the application has been through multiple agency checks and that FEMA Region 8 has requested clarifying materials. Schwartz said the team believes the application contains the required package and that the project remains cost‑beneficial under FEMA benefit‑cost criteria.
Schwartz said recent federal changes and administrative processing have contributed to delays. “The previous presidential administration had one way of doing things. Our new presidential administration has a way of doing things that is very, very different than the other,” he said, describing the application as caught in a period of federal administrative change.
Staff advised council members that the state is the formal applicant to the federal grant program and is the primary advocate in the review chain. The city manager told members that letters or outreach to FEMA should be routed through the city and then to the state to avoid bypassing established procedures and potentially slowing the review. Staff offered to help draft any correspondence the council wishes to pursue and to coordinate it with the state.
The most recent packet the city received included a cover letter from the City of Bismarck’s building official, Brady Balskowski, and an updated FEMA request‑for‑information response dated March 6. City staff said they had been verbally told the packet contains what FEMA needs for regional and Washington, D.C., review, but that an official determination and grant award remain pending.
No council action was required at the meeting; staff will continue to work with the state and federal partners and report back as the review progresses.
