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Drainage district reports progress on North Main Drain, seeks state funding; FEMA BRIC program paused
Summary
Drainage district staff told commissioners the North Main Drain project advanced on the water development board prioritization; County testified on House Bill 3915 seeking Delta reclamation funds. Officials also reported FEMA placed BRIC grants on hold, affecting three mitigation projects previously advanced in the BRIC process.
Drainage district officials told the Hidalgo County Commissioners Court the county’s North Main Drain and other flood-mitigation projects have advanced in state prioritization and legislative outreach, but that federal mitigation funding through FEMA’s BRIC program has been placed on hold.
Commissioner David Fuentes reported he testified in Austin on House Bill 3915, legislation the county supports to secure funding for a Delta reclamation and water-producing project the county considers important to local water needs. "It's looking very, very positive," Fuentes said about the bill’s prospects, adding the bill passed committee steps and would need the governor’s signature to become law.
The drainage district said the Texas Water Development Board has placed the county’s Water Development Projects 4 and 5 (including the North Main Drain) on the final infrastructure fund prioritization list and will issue invitations for applications. Engineers told the court the North Main Drain serves a wide area — including McAllen, Edinburg, Mission and Palm View — and that roughly 70% of the county relies in part on the northern drain network.
FEMA and BRIC: County staff told the court FEMA notified them that BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) funding is currently on hold; the district said three identified projects that together sought approximately $10.3 million in BRIC assistance — including a hoped-for $7.7 million grant for one project — are affected. A presenter called it "a shame" that mitigation grants appear to have been deprioritized in favor of reconstruction funds.
Project approvals and payments: The court approved several technical and payment items tied to ongoing drainage projects, including:
- Acceptance of the certificate of substantial completion for Welch Excavation on the North Main Drain project and approval of a retainage payment request of $218,727.94 plus $4,728 in interest. - Approval of a change order increasing a contract by $80,492.03 and granting 60 additional calendar days for the Mile 10 North and Baseline Road Phase 2 project (bond project number listed in the record). - Authorization to advertise an RFQ for professional engineering services for project expansion and to re-advertise if no responses are received.
Procurements and software: The court approved multiple operational procurements for the drainage district, including the acquisition of asset-management and stored-water domain software through VertiSoft/OpenGov under cooperative contract and cloud-hosted email services through a cooperative contract for 36 months (vendor listed in the record). The court also accepted a low bid for a fleet purchase of full-size pickup trucks totaling $532,780.
What’s next: County staff said they will pursue state invitations from the Water Development Board and continue to seek alternative funding sources to replace the paused BRIC grant opportunity. The drainage district emphasized it still has bond funds assigned to the identified projects and will continue with construction where bonds permit.
