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Navasota council approves contracts to pursue $750,000 CDBG street-rehab grant for Buckingham Lane
Summary
The Navasota City Council approved a grant-administration agreement and an engineering-services agreement to pursue a Texas CDBG street-rehabilitation grant for Buckingham, Camelot and Glenshire streets. Staff said the grant is for $750,000 with a $75,000 city match; administrative and engineering fees were discussed.
Navasota — The City Council on July 13 approved agreements to pursue a Texas Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to fund street rehabilitation on Buckingham, Camelot and Glenshire.
Council approved a grant-administration agreement with GrantWorks and an engineering-services agreement for the Buckingham Lane project so the city can submit required documents to the Texas Department of Agriculture by the July 15 deadline. Staff described the project as "streets only" work (no drainage included) intended to repair curb, gutter and road surfaces.
City staff said the CDBG request is for $750,000 and that the city would provide a $75,000 local match. Staff also said GrantWorks requested $53,400 to provide grant-administration services. On the engineering contract, the transcript lists two closely matching figures ($70,806 and $70,860) in different places; council approved the engineering agreement despite that discrepancy on the record.
The council authorized Mayor Pro Tem James Harris (acting in the mayor's absence) to approve the final form of the grant-administration agreement and to sign the documents after staff finalizes revisions and receives GrantWorks' response. Council members also authorized the city manager to execute all necessary documents to proceed with project implementation if the grant is awarded.
Staff noted a related access and drainage issue: a fence on private property currently blocks city crews from reaching a drainage ditch adjacent to the project area, and staff said they are working with homeowners on a possible easement to allow cleaning. Staff cautioned that while the curb-and-street work will improve roadway conditions, it will not fully resolve drainage problems until the ditch is accessible.
Taylor Hughes, the city's marketing and communications director, gave unrelated event statistics during a staff update earlier in the meeting, saying "we had a little over 3,000 visitors in Downtown Navasota," a figure staff said undercounts attendees who do not carry cell phones.
The motions to approve the agreements passed on oral voice votes. The grant-administration approval was moved and seconded on the record and carried with council saying "aye;" the engineering agreement was approved in a similar voice vote.
Next steps: staff will finalize edited agreements with counsel, forward them to GrantWorks, and submit the administration and engineering contracts to the state so the grant application review can proceed through October with award notifications expected in November.
