Liberty County approves contract with Impact to manage CDBG-DR grant application

The Liberty County Commissioners Court on March 23 voted to award a contract to Impact to serve as the county's grant administrator for a Community Development Block Grant—Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) application to the Texas General Land Office covering disaster declarations DR-4781 and DR-4798.

Gerald (Commissioner, Precinct 4) told the court he attended a GLO webinar and walked commissioners through the timeline for solicitations and evaluations. "The deadline for the grant submission is 5PM today," Gerald said, adding he had obtained login credentials and was the primary contact but would need colleagues' help to complete the electronic upload.

Bayle Wick, a member of the review committee, said she "sat on the committee" that arranged the request-for-proposal process and expressed confidence in the committee's rankings and recommendations. Harold (staff member), who participated in reviews, said the proposals and qualifications received "were all good" and that staff had contacted the top-rated firms to confirm availability.

Bruce moved to award the grant administration contract to Impact; the motion was seconded and carried by voice vote after the chair called for the question. The court did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript; Harold verbally responded "Aye" on the record during the vote.

The agreement is intended to support Liberty County's CDBG-DR application process; participants noted the grant award range discussed in the meeting runs from $500,000 to $5,000,000. The court directed staff and the winning administrator to proceed with the application and any necessary contract execution so the county can complete submission by the stated deadline.

The meeting moved on to a separate agenda item on engineering services after the vote.