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Council approves GrantWorks to pursue state no‑match water grant amid tight deadline
Summary
Gregory’s City Council approved GrantWorks as the city’s grant administrator for a Texas Water Development Board no‑match water infrastructure application with a July 30 deadline, while tabling final engineering selections for a special meeting to avoid losing the funding opportunity.
The Gregory City Council voted July 13 to hire GrantWorks as the city’s grant administrator to pursue a Texas Water Development Board water‑supply and infrastructure grant that requires no local match. Mayor (speaker 1) said the program is a "0% match" opportunity and staff emphasized the application deadline is short.
GrantWorks’ client representative Dina Esmeendez told the council her team has handled federal relief and local projects and noted recent experience with similar grants: "I was a project manager for the American Rescue Plan funds where I managed 20 clients, a 185 projects, over $90,000,000," she said. Esmeendez said GrantWorks would prepare the application, manage compliance and help coordinate engineering and procurement if the city proceeds.
Council members pressed for assurances about timing and compliance. Mary Hernandez, working with Ernest Garza’s firm on budgeting, warned that the city’s audited financial statements are behind schedule and that certified values needed for setting tax rates should arrive by the end of the month. Legal counsel advised that missing audits could complicate some grant requirements but that the city could still submit an application and follow up with documentation as available.
Because engineering firms responding to the RFQ must be given formal notice and an opportunity to have their proposals opened, council members agreed to a special meeting to complete the engineering selection and finalize application attachments. The council’s action keeps the application window open: the staff noted the grant range is commonly $500,000–$1,000,000 for qualifying projects.
Next steps: staff will execute an agreement with GrantWorks, assemble required attachments with the selected engineer and schedule a special meeting to finalize the engineering selection and the formal resolution the Texas Water Development Board requires.
