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 Among the items on the Monday night agenda will be a motion to
move forward with making application for an Illinois Transportation
Enhancement Grant. With Mayor Marty Neitzel absent for the evening,
Mayor Pro-Tem Jeff Hoinacki introduced the topic then turned the
floor over to City Administrator Clay Johnson.
Johnson explained that the Illinois Department of Transportation had
earlier in the spring sent out notification that the ITEP grants
would be made available this year. Johnson said that the grants are
to be used specifically for non-traditional transportation projects,
such as bike trails, streetscape plans, and transforming abandoned
railroad berms to walking paths. He also explained that the city of
Lincoln has applied for ITEP grants in past, in 2010 and 2012,
specifically for the downtown streetscape plan. He said those two
attempts were unsuccessful.
Johnson went on to say that he had been working with Farnsworth
Group to prepare the grant application. The document would cover
$1.6 million with a 30/70 percent split. Johnson said these were
highly competitive grants, and there was no knowing if the city
would win the award this year.
 Todd Mourning asked how many dollars were going to be available.
Johnson said there would be $26 million given out. Mourning wondered
if the state knew already how many grants it would award. Johnson
said to his knowledge there was no number, but what he did know was
that the cap on the individual awards would be no more than $2
million each. He also noted that he had heard of at least one other
city that is asking for the money for streetscapes.
Johnson went on to explain that the $1.6 million would complete the
three remaining sides of the downtown square, so if awarded, the
city could complete its downtown plan within the next year or so.
Mourning then asked if Farnsworth had done these types of grant
applications, and if so, what was their success rate. Johnson said
there was no information regarding that question. However, what he
did note was that the city had a couple of things going for it,
hopefully winning the grant.
He said the city was going to offer the 30/70 split when many grant
applicants go with a 20/80 split. Secondly, the city has already
completed one block of the streetscape plan. Johnson said this would
illustrate to the state that Lincoln is serious about the project
and about getting it finished.
Michelle Bauer wondered, with the grant tied to the state, when the
award would be paid if won, considering the difficulty the state is
having in reaching a budget. Johnson said that was a good question.
However, he noted that the money for the ITEP grant was federal
funds that should be passed through the state to the city.
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Bauer also wondered about the current streetscape design. It has been well
documented that the aldermen, on the whole, were not all that well pleased with
the design of Pulaski Street, particularly regarding the size of the sidewalk
bump-outs and the difficulty in making right turns off of Kickapoo onto Pulaski.
Her concern was that if the city applied for the grant using the current design,
then later changed the design, could there be consequences with the funding.
Johnson said he didn’t believe the application would be that exacting, but that
in making the application, Farnsworth would be using the construction costs for
the current plan as part of the request.
Steve Parrott commented on Bauer’s first question regarding the state budget. He
said in his career; he works with state and federal grants, word had come to his
department that no grants would be paid, regardless of their origin, without the
direction of the governor’s office. Johnson said that he could make calls and
find out how that process would works.
Jonie Tibbs asked if the grant were awarded, could the city use a portion of
that money to correct the issues on Pulaski Street. Johnson said he didn’t think
so. He noted that the grant was supposed to be for new projects.
Bauer asked if the grant would cover the three sides, then the money the city
has in the budget now would more than cover the cost to correct Pulaski Street.
Johnson said that the money in the budget would be the “match” or 30 percent for
the grant application.
Rick Hoefle then asked for exact clarification regarding the $1.6 million. He
wanted to know if the award would be $1.6 million, then the city would add to
that the $480,000 already in the budget.
Johnson said the total cost of the project would be $1.6 million. The city would
use the $480,000 as the 30 percent match, and the award, if won would be for
$1.2 million.
Johnson noted that a portion of the grant application would be letters of
support from downtown businesses. Aldermen will be asked Monday night to approve
moving forward with the grant application. If approved, the grant is due to the
state on June 17th. If won, the city would be notified in the fall of this year.
[Nila Smith] |
