Wayne County commissioners voted to approve a grant agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to begin the administrative process for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds tied to flooding in August 2023.

Austin Shaikh, director of economic development, DeLorean Holmes, economic vitality division director, and Betsy Pazola, community development division director, told the commission the approval triggers work to draft an administrative action plan that will be developed with affected local communities and returned to the commission for public comment and final approval.

The nut graf: Pazola said, “The deadline to get it submitted to HUD is June 20.” Commissioners noted the time pressure; staff said the allocation gives the county six years to spend the money but provides only a short initial window for drafting the action plan and gathering public input. Commissioners asked staff to circulate the draft to commissioners and to include a summary of public comments when the plan returns to the commission.

Commissioners sought details on which communities would be eligible. Staff said Detroit received its own allocation and that the county is focusing on roughly 10 to 11 of the hardest-hit municipalities that can demonstrate a tie to the August 2023 flooding. Staff said they are gathering data from FEMA, the Small Business Administration and the state's emergency management office and already have begun conversations with some communities.

Ending: The commission approved the grant agreement to begin the action-plan process; staff committed to publish the draft for public comment, notify commissioners when the comment period opens, and return the plan with a public-comment summary before the HUD submission deadline.