City receives grant updates

City receives grant updates

 Staff Reports

Jefferson City Council received updates from SPI on five grants the City currently has in progress.

The sanitary sewer project down North Polk Street is complete, but some items have been identified and passed on to the contractor Lisa Crossman of SPI told Council Tuesday night.

She said a final walk-through on the project will be scheduled in the next few days.

The project was funded using part of the City’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Work on repairing the Port Jefferson Nature area trails is progressing with SPI on site last week to verify the locations where repairs are required. Approximately 31 areas have been identified and were submitted to Texas Parks and Wildlife for funding to repair. Crossman told Council the design work is almost complete and should be ready for review by the City prior to submission to TPWD for final approval and bidding.

The design for adding emergency generators to the various lift stations across the City is also nearing completion and should be ready for review in the next few weeks. This was funded via Texas Department of Emergency Management grant.

Building a sidewalk along MLK between the Jefferson Elementary and High Schools has long been proposed, but always fallen short during the grant process.

SPI and the City have again submitted a grant request to TxDOT in June and are awaiting the next steps. If the project is accepted by TxDOT, funding would be received around October. TxDOT would assume responsibility for the design and construction of the project. 

Ward 2 Alderman Paul Keith asked which side of MLK the sidewalks were proposed to be on. Crossman said initially it was the West side of MLK, but ultimately it would be up to TxDOT.

Lastly, the $6 million grant the City received from the Texas Water Development Board to replace water lines needs to be finalized according to Crossman. She said SPI is waiting for feedback from the City on which lines need to be replaced.

Crossman offered a map indicating the initial submission list, but needed verification on them and any changes before proceeding. She said that once TWDB begins review, any changes would mean the review has to be restarted.

She said once the submissions are made, it can be at least 18-24 months before bidding can begin on the project.