Rangely council approves multiple grants to complete Riverboat Ramp improvements

Council approved a package of grant awards and requests to advance the Riverboat Ramp project. The town accepted a Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) grant of $30,355 and a Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) grant of $33,275 for the project; council also approved a grant request to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for $36,655 that staff said looked favorable but had not yet been awarded, and approved an AARP $4,000 grant for signage.

Project staff and council described cuts to the project scope when grant funding was uncertain and said the monies would fund terraces, signage and other improvements to make the ramp more informational and accessible. “All of these are to do a lot of the signage and, a lot of the terrace, even the things that will make it look really nice and informational,” a staff member said. The CHFA and CWCB grants were approved on voice votes; the USFWS funding was treated as a request in the record, and the AARP grant for signage was approved.

Council members discussed which agencies had produced existing signage in local parks and asked staff to research previous signage suppliers. The project manager indicated additional matching or in-kind contributions were being pursued and that approved grants would allow the team to restore items removed from the project due to earlier delays.