Navasota Council reviews Section 3 compliance for $500,000 Mini Street CDBG water and sewer project

The Navasota City Council received a required review of Section 3 requirements tied to the city—s Texas Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for the Mini Street water and sewer improvements, a $500,000 project that is already contracted and in the design phase.

Meghan, a consultant with Public Management, told council the presentation was required under the grant rules and is intended to show compliance with federal civil rights and employment-opportunity obligations before the city awards a construction contract. Meghan said Section 3 is a —best efforts— obligation to promote employment and contracting opportunities for low- and moderate-income people who live in the project area.

Meghan said the city will document job vacancies, labor-standard hours worked on the project, and other Section 3 reporting throughout construction, and will submit periodic Section 3 reports and a final closeout report. She described the Section 3 service area as a one-mile radius around the project location and said staff will make direct solicitations to job boards and to minority- and women-owned businesses when the project goes to bid.

Council members asked for clarifications about the project scope (public works staff described replacement of sewer and water lines along Mini Street) and about who will put the bid package together; staff confirmed the city will go to bid through the engineer on the project (listed in the record as Blile Engineering) and that city staff will ask the engineer to include direct Section 3 solicitations in the bid outreach.

Meghan also said the city must document any city employee time spent on grant duties, even though she did not expect city employees to qualify as Section 3 hires in most cases. If a staff member spent measurable hours on the grant, those hours would be logged as part of the Section 3 reporting.

No motion or vote was required. Staff said it will continue to prepare Section 3 reports through the life of the grant, and will present the required documentation prior to awarding a construction contract.