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Council accepts $7.99 million FHWA Safe Streets grant, approves project manager and engineering partners
Summary
The town accepted a subrecipient award under FHWA's Safe Streets and Roads for All program (federal share $7,991,392; local share $1,997,848). Council approved project-management and engineering agreements and discussed reimbursement timing, potential state match, and project priorities including the Mitchell Street intersection.
Batesburg-Leesville — Council voted July 14 to accept a subrecipient agreement with the Federal Highway Administration for a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) award, with a federal share of $7,991,392 and a required recipient share of $1,997,848 (approximate 80/20 distribution).
Town staff described the grant as a multi-year implementation program with a final-report deadline of March 30, 2030. The planning document used for the application identified potential projects such as sidewalks, intersection improvements and hypothetical designs for several town corridors; none of those projects had been formally approved by council, staff said.
Council approved the subrecipient agreement and also approved continuing agreements to manage and implement the grant: a project-management contract with Wood Valley Community Strategies (principal Jamie Kendrick) and continued engineering work with Me and Hunt. Staff explained that Jamie Kendrick has led planning and grant application work and that the hourly-based project-management cost estimate for the next 10–14 months is about $28,140; staff said project-management costs were eligible grant expenses.
Councilors discussed financial exposure because SS4A is primarily a reimbursement grant and local match or upfront costs could appear on the town's ledger pending reimbursement. "I don't want us on the hook for much at all," one council member said, and others urged staff to pursue state or county matching funds and ask whether state partners could front match dollars to smooth cash flow. Staff said they would pursue partnerships and that state funds (for example, previously identified Mitchell Street funds) might be leveraged as local match where allowable.
What happens next: Staff will proceed with subrecipient paperwork, engage the project manager and engineering partners, and return to council with refined project lists, cash-flow estimates and partner-match options. Implementation tasks and reimbursement requests will be managed under the grant timetable through 2030.
