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Deer Lodge council signs onto Headwaters MOU to pursue $1.5 million assessment grant
Summary
City officials agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding with Headwaters to join a regional $1.5 million assessment grant focused on downtown building assessments, brownfields work and planning; signing does not obligate city funds, council was told.
Melissa Watermaker, a representative of Headwaters RCPE, told the Deer Lodge City Council that Headwaters is seeking a $1,500,000 regional assessment grant that would require three community partners and would support environmental assessments, structural and architectural reports and planning work.
The presentation, made during new business, explained that the grant would allow Headwaters to spend roughly 30% on planning and fund phase 1 and phase 2 environmental assessments, feasibility work and certain mitigation tasks. "We have the opportunity in front of us to submit an assessment grant for $1,500,000," Watermaker said, adding that the city would be one of three partner areas and that participation would not require the city to contribute matching funds.
Why it matters: Watermaker said the larger grant would create capacity for technical studies that smaller grants often cannot cover and would help downtown property owners access remediation and rehabilitation funds. She described a prioritization process and an "interim ownership" model where an owner unwilling to invest could transfer a building for a dollar while the program addresses cleanup and rehabilitation; ownership terms would then share future income with the original owner.
Council members pressed for clarity about how funds would be allocated across regions and whether local owners would be eligible. Watermaker said about 60% of immediate assessment funds would likely be spent in the community that is furthest along and that the remaining funds would be distributed regionally, depending on project readiness. She also emphasized that DEQ assessment funding is available now as a fallback if the larger regional grant is not awarded.
The council voted to sign the Headwaters memorandum of understanding to allow the city to be included as a partner in the grant application. Moderator read the roll call and recorded ayes from council members present; the motion carried.
The council was told signing the MOU is a nonbinding step to enable the application and does not commit city funds. The city will next review the MOU language and the program criteria to determine how applications from downtown property owners would be handled.
