Trust approves MOU allowing city to receive $10M FEMA grant for Hefner generators
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Summary
Trustees approved a memorandum of understanding allowing the city to receive a $10 million FEMA pre-disaster mitigation grant for natural gas emergency generators at the Hefner Water Treatment Plant; OCWID will administer the project and the district will provide the local match as part of its capital plan.
The Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust on Feb. 24 approved a memorandum of understanding with the city of Oklahoma City to acknowledge receipt of a FEMA pre-disaster mitigation grant and to allow the Trust’s utility district to administer the grant-funded Hefner Water Treatment Plant emergency power generation project.
Vanessa Aguilar, deputy of financial services, said FEMA awarded the pre-disaster mitigation grant to the state in Sept. 2024 and that the city is the subrecipient; the grant provides $10,000,000 toward installing natural gas-powered emergency generators at the Hefner plant. Aguilar said staff worked with FEMA and the state office of emergency management to address schedule constraints driven by long equipment lead times (roughly 24 months) and identified a path forward that includes time extensions or scope modifications if needed so the project can be completed successfully within performance windows.
Aguilar said there is no local match expected from the city of Oklahoma City; the local match will be on behalf of OCWID and the district already has the project in its five-year capital plan. The memorandum formalizes that the city will receive the grant funds while OCWID will administer the project and handle grant compliance.
Trustees had no further questions and approved the MOU. Staff said they will continue coordination with FEMA and state emergency management on schedule and compliance matters.