Marie Preziosa, executive director of the Westfield Water Development Authority, told the Technology and Infrastructure Committee in Parkersburg that the state's $427 million Economic Enhancement Grant Fund (ARPA) has been allocated to 167 projects across the state and is already driving substantial additional public and private investment.

"I think you'll find out this is really a game changer for them," Preziosa said, summarizing the authority's work to move funds to water, sewer and economic development projects. She listed 74 sewer projects, 64 water projects and 49 economic development or tourism projects as part of the 167 total that have received awards from the fund.

Preziosa told the committee the federal timing requirements on the ARPA dollars created a narrow window for action: projects must begin construction by a stated December 31 deadline and the authority must spend the dollars by Dec. 31, 2026, she said. Those timing constraints, she said, are a driving reason the authority pushed to pair the ARPA grants with other state and federal programs.

"We have been able to leverage it," Preziosa said, adding a figure that was widely cited in the session: roughly $1.86 trillion in total investment as a result of layering the $427 million with other resources (committee materials and a member's remark later summarized that as about $1.8 trillion). The committee did not provide documentary evidence of the leveraged total during the meeting; the number is reported here as stated in testimony.

Preziosa warned members that the scale and timing of the program increase exposure to contractor bid overruns. She said the authority is monitoring bids closely and will reallocate funds when projects cannot meet deadlines. "We're not gonna lose any money. We're gonna try to get it all closed," she said, describing a plan to substitute state infrastructure dollars for projects that otherwise could not meet federal timing rules.

Committee members asked whether recent legislative changes to the public service commission certificate-of-need process had helped move projects through the pipeline. Preziosa called the change "very positive," saying it helped engineers, lawyers and local systems meet the tight schedule and that without it the authority would not have been able to reach current contracting levels.

Lawmakers also pressed Preziosa on front-end (soft-cost) funding for project development. She said some small-planning grants and SRF-related design programs exist to help smaller public service districts and municipal systems, but acknowledged that insufficient front-end funding can slow projects' development and limit how many applicants are ready to proceed to construction bidding.

A participant at the hearing cited an earlier statewide estimate that identified roughly $11 billion in wastewater needs and $2.5 billion in drinking-water needs (estimate presented from a prior IDDC board update). Committee members used that figure to underline the scale of systems needing upgrades beyond the current round of awards.

Preziosa outlined a target to have the $427 million under contract by early December and said the authority expects most projects to be under contract by mid-December; she conceded some "hardship" cases may close later but said the authority will use available state funds and program flexibility to avoid returning federal dollars.

The committee received a handout listing the 167 projects and asked the director to follow up with numbers on submitted-but-unfunded projects and on specific requests such as a $7 million project in Antelope; Preziosa said she would follow up.

The meeting ended after additional procedural business and the committee adjourned.