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Council defers vote on $1.8 million Delta Regional Authority culvert grant after questions about obligations and scope
Summary
Council members asked how a $1.8 million Delta Regional Authority grant would be spent, whether the city would be responsible for cost overruns and whether projects are mandatory. The council deferred the application to the next meeting to gather more detail.
Council members deferred action on a resolution supporting a $1.8 million Delta Regional Authority grant application for culvert improvements after several members pressed staff for more detail on scope, bid estimates and the city’s potential obligations.
The council’s questions centered on whether the DRA award would obligate the city to cover cost overruns and whether the award would be sufficient to complete the list of drainage projects identified in the city’s drainage master plan. Councilmember Le asked whether the ordinance requires the city to complete all listed projects if the grant covers only part of the work, saying, “If we get to 1.8 million and we say, hey, that only gets us 75% of the way there, are we allowed to … ?”
A staff member identified as Wade told the council a formal bid package is not yet available and that project costs remain preliminary: “I do not have a bid package on this yet. This is the preliminary stages … we’ll have to go to design and do the studies.” Wade said the four culvert crossings identified in the drainage master plan are the focus and that the DRA money targets projects in the Hubs Bayou watershed and Saunders area.
Council members repeatedly asked whether accepting the grant would legally or contractually obligate the city to complete all projects on the list, or to cover overages. Staff said the city would likely be obligated to perform the work the city accepts as the grant recipient but could not definitively answer how grant conditions would apply until a formal agreement is drafted.
Several council members said they supported pursuing outside funding but wanted clarity on exposure, project prioritization and whether the city would be asked to commit additional local funds. One councilmember suggested deferring the item so the administration could provide the grant application text, anticipated scope, a preliminary estimate of total project costs and whether the city would be on the hook for overages.
The council voted to defer the resolution to the council’s next meeting (the first May meeting), giving staff time to obtain a bid package or clearer cost and obligation language from the DRA and project engineers.
