Polk County prioritizes Indian Springs and Holiday Lakes for GLO flood-recovery grant

Polk County commissioners voted to submit two road projects to the Texas General Land Office(GLO) for disaster-recovery funds tied to the 2024 flooding, naming Indian Springs as the county's top priority and Holiday Lakes second. The court must file two project applications by the GLO's March 23 deadline; the GLO is expected to invite applications from a narrower set later in April.

County staff told the court that GLO scoring heavily favors demonstrated FEMA damage and storm-connection and that projects must serve primarily low-to-moderate income (LMI) beneficiaries. "All projects must clearly demonstrate a direct connection to damages or impacts from the 2024 flooding," the grant administrator said, adding that Polk County must provide a 5% local match and that eligible project costs must fall between $500,000 and $5 million.

Commissioner Pervvis's written responses, read into the record by staff, identified Nine Bridges Road (and two associated bridges and headwalls) as a candidate and reported that the bridges were under water for more than a week during the 2024 floods. "During the flooding event, there was no major impact, but emergency vehicles could not travel the road at all," the submitted text noted; the entry listed roughly 20 homes (about 50 people) directly served by that corridor.

Several commissioners and the sheriff urged the court to prioritize projects that improve emergency access and evacuation connectivity for ambulances, school buses and law enforcement. The sheriff said Indian Springs and Holiday Lakes are two high-impact areas where responders repeatedly face access problems: "Those are locations that have lots of people who live in them," the sheriff said, adding that a number of roads are privately maintained, which complicates county repair options.

After discussion about beneficiary counts and LMI thresholds(which may require door-to-door surveys if census figures do not demonstrate sufficient LMI share), Commissioner Dubos moved to nominate Indian Springs as project No. 1 and Holiday Lakes as No. 2; Commissioner Cassidy seconded and the motion carried. The court also approved an amendment clarifying that the 5% local match would come from the commissioners' budgets, a procedural step commissioners said they will reconcile later.

What happens next: Polk County will submit two prioritized applications to the GLO by the stated deadline; if the GLO requests a single application after initial scoring the court will later decide which of its two nominees to pursue as the final application. County staff and outside grant consultants said they will prepare the narrative tying the chosen project to the 2024 flood damages and to the FEMA documentation already reported by the county.

Authorities and references in the hearing included the Texas General Land Office Local Communities Program, FEMA damage reports used for scoring, and HUD/GLO program LMI requirements. The county recording and staff materials noted the $500,000to$5 million project cost window and the 5% local match requirement.