At its Aug. 14 meeting the Finance Committee approved an ordinance authorizing the city to proceed with bidding and to enter a principal-forgiveness loan agreement and related documents for a lead service line replacement project, John Hoffman of the engineering division told the committee. The ordinance implements a third project awarded under state/federal water infrastructure programs and allows the mayor to sign required documents.

Hoffman said the city submitted a five-year project plan in 2021 as a condition for applying to the water loan and grant programs. “We applied for 5 projects at $4,000,000 each,” he said, and described earlier awards and results: the city received $4 million for its first project in 2022 and completed about “700 service replacements on that project.” In 2024 the city secured just over $3 million after new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds became available and the program shifted from a median-household-income screen to census-tract rankings based on metrics such as the share of children under 6 and poverty indicators. For the current, third project the city sought funding for six census tracts (covering seven wards) and was allocated $2,465,000, Hoffman said. Taken together, he said, the three projects bring the city’s grant total to about $9.5 million.

Committee members asked how the census-tract ranking affects equity and coverage across the city. An alderman asked whether funds targeted to high-ranking census tracts would cause service-line work in other neighborhoods to be delayed; Hoffman answered that the program funding is tied to the selected census tracts but said the city’s own funding can be used elsewhere. He described the grant-funded work as “bonus replacements that we’re getting extra money from.” The committee also asked whether apartment buildings are being prioritized because they serve more residents; Hoffman said the city has not yet “dove into apartments per se” but that the city does annually test and check certain critical facilities such as child-care centers and schools.

The committee sought and received several operational details: Hoffman said the city typically spends about $4 million a year on lead service replacements, averaging roughly $9,000 per replacement, and completes in the “upper 400s” of replacements annually. He said there are roughly 4,500 lead service lines in the city (an approximate figure provided during the discussion). Hoffman also said staff are working to extend the original five-year project plan by another five years so the city can pursue project 4 and project 5 if additional grant money becomes available.

A motion to approve the ordinance was made by Alderman Carl Franco and seconded by Alderman Dan Barrero; the committee voted 5–0 to adopt the ordinance. The approval authorizes staff to proceed with bidding, to accept the awarded funds, to execute a principal-forgiveness loan agreement under the applicable public water supply loan program, and to allow the mayor to sign documents required to implement the project.

The discussion portion of the item centered on program eligibility, geographic targeting based on census-tract rankings, and outreach/administration considerations; no policy change beyond pursuing the loan/grant and extending the project plan was adopted at the meeting. Staff indicated the city will continue internal planning and outreach and will return with procurement steps and implementation details as the projects move into construction.