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Gold Hill wins CDBG grant for waterline design; city manager outlines financial cleanup and wildfire grant partnerships
Summary
City Manager Lily Morgan said Business Oregon has informally awarded Gold Hill the requested CDBG funds (about $250,000) to design water main replacement, looping and hydrants; she also described finance-system clean-up, an audit-extension request and partnerships with Fire District 3 and Jackson Soil and Water Conservation for a wildfire-defense grant application.
City Manager/Recorder Lily Morgan told the Gold Hill City Council on Dec. 17 that Business Oregon has informed the city it will receive the full Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) amount it requested—described in the meeting as "a little over $250,000"—to fund design work for a water main replacement project that includes looping pipes, additional hydrants, reservoir work and adding backup generators to water infrastructure.
"What we applied for was to be able to do, design for another waterline, water main replacement for looping the water lines and getting more hydrants and, our water reservoir," Morgan said, noting formal notice is expected next week. She said the award would allow the city to move from design directly to construction when funding arrives and added Business Oregon staff had earlier expressed concern about the department’s pro forma but that the state will use the most recent audited numbers submitted.
Morgan also reported the city’s finance system is undergoing cleanup after previously unposted payments were reconciled. She said roughly $300,000 of payments from a prior fiscal year were entered into the financial software and Mallory (city staff) has completed much of the reconciliation work; the city is seeking an audit-extension for the 2023-24 year because it is still waiting on 2022-23 trial balances.
On regional grants and wildfire mitigation, Morgan said Gold Hill is partnering with Fire District 3, Jackson Soil and Water Conservation and local organizations to co-apply for the next round of Community Wildfire Defense Grants (CWDG), due in February. Fire District 3 will act as the primary applicant while city staff will participate as co-applicants to coordinate thinning and defensible-space work on lands surrounding Gold Hill.
Mayor Pro Tem questioned whether the project was "shovel ready," to which Morgan replied staff are working on design and administrative steps so the city can move quickly to construction when funds are available.
Why it matters: the CDBG funds would fund engineering and design work that can make local water-infrastructure projects construction-ready; the wildfire partnership aims to reduce wildfire risk on nearby public and city-adjacent lands. The finance-system cleanup and audit-extension request are material to the city’s ability to document finances for grants and audits.
Next steps: Morgan will forward formal grant award documentation to council when received, continue audit and finance reconciliation work and proceed with partnership grant applications unless the council directs otherwise.
