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East Feliciana Parish awarded $1.2 million Safe Streets planning grant; consultants urge fast procurement
Summary
CSRS representatives told the East Feliciana Police Jury the parish received a $1.2 million federal planning award through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program and urged the jury to solicit professional services promptly so the parish can position itself to draw down later implementation funds.
The East Feliciana Parish Police Jury was told on Tuesday that the parish won a $1.2 million federal Safe Streets and Roads for All planning grant and must complete a planning exercise before it can draw federal implementation funds.
De Moine Rudge, a CSRS representative, introduced the firm and said it provides planning and grants-management services; Matthew Martneck, also with CSRS, told jurors the award was among the larger planning grants in the state. "You have a planning award that will allow whoever you choose to take a deep dive on that exercise and really position the parish for a lot of good implementation wins going forward," Martneck said.
Martneck described how the program is structured: the parish must complete a safety-action plan that identifies problem locations, defines interventions, and assigns cost estimates. After the plan is complete, the Federal Highway Administration offers a separate stream of implementation funds for projects identified in the plan. Martneck said soliciting a consultant now and advancing the planning work quickly will help East Feliciana get into the queue for implementation dollars sooner; if the parish "lean[s] into the process," he said, drawing the award down could take a matter of months rather than years.
Jurors asked about timing and next steps during a brief question-and-answer period. CSRS representatives said the parish has the planning funds in FY25 and recommended the jury issue a solicitation for professional services to manage the plan and related stakeholder engagement.
The police jury did not make a procurement decision at the meeting; CSRS representatives said they would provide materials and contact information to the clerk and that the jury could expect to see a procurement item soon. The parish's next procedural steps are to advertise or otherwise solicit proposals for a planning consultant, complete the planning process required by the grant, and then pursue implementation funding for prioritized safety projects.
