Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Build Kansas Dashboard topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Build Kansas hub reports federal-award breakdown, says technical assistance remains active
Summary
Kansas Infrastructure Hub staff reported award and pending federal‑award figures and described ongoing technical assistance to local governments preparing grant applications, noting a recent peak tied to the Kansas Infrastructure Summit.
At the opening of the meeting, Jason Fitzell, interim executive director of the Kansas Infrastructure Hub, reviewed the hub's dashboards showing awarded and awaiting federal-award funding and summarized the hub's technical-assistance activity statewide.
Fitzell presented a table summarizing award status and said the hub has both awarded and awaiting federal awards in the state portfolio. He reported that about $34.2 million in federal grants listed in the hub's dashboard have been awarded, about $53.0 million are awaiting federal award, and the applications under consideration at the meeting totaled roughly $3.8 million (figures presented by hub staff). Fitzell said the hub is seeing grant agreements completed for awarded projects but that some pending awards remain under federal review and ranking.
Fitzell also told members the hub has been ‘‘reaching out to local communities and providing support for all manner of grant, applications, not just IIJA related,’’ and that technical assistance peaked around the statewide Kansas Infrastructure Summit earlier in the year, when staff conducted many site visits. He said the hub's assistance takes many forms, including meetings, phone calls, emails and site visits.
Why it matters: The hub's tracking of awarded versus pending funds and its technical-assistance work help local governments prepare stronger, timely federal grant applications and can affect whether projects move from planning to implementation phases.
What the hub will do next: Fitzell said the hub will return to the committee with documentation showing examples of technical-assistance successes at a future meeting, per a request from Representative Francis.
Quote
"We have been reaching out to local communities and providing support for all manner of grant, applications, not just IIJA related," Fitzell said.
Context
Fitzell's presentation framed the committee's review of SS4A and airport applications that followed. Several committee members noted the need to document technical-assistance outcomes and to make match expectations clearer for future applicants.
