Council hears proposal to hire Langford for CDBG-DR grant administration for Lizzie Lane drainage project

At the March 17 workshop the city presented a proposed professional services agreement with Langford Community Management to provide grant-administration services for an application to the Community Development Block Grant — Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) reallocation program.

Meaghan, a city staff member, told the council the proposed agreement would pay Langford “an amount not to exceed 7.2% of the estimated project cost or a hundred and 8,000” and that the firm was selected through a request for proposals in accordance with applicable regulations (2 CFR 200), staff said.

Staff said the application would support the M118 drainage improvements (phase 1) to address drainage issues along Lizzie Lane. The grant the city is pursuing is for $1,350,000 with a $150,000 local match tied to the project; staff said the grant-administration fee would be paid from awarded grant funds if the project is selected.

Council members asked whether the city already had identified applicants for the funding and whether grant application preparation was a team effort; staff replied that a project had been identified and that grant work is a team effort led by city staff with Meaghan taking the lead. Staff said the city previously received disaster-recovery funding in the same area around 2016 and that the current submittal uses that prior work in hopes of being invited to apply under the reallocation program.

The item was presented as a proposed future agenda item; no formal council vote took place in the workshop.