Consultant Andrew Smith came before the board with his usual load of pay and reimbursement requests and news of completed projects.
A current Black Bayou water project is projected to be complete by the end of January. T.L. Wallace, who is completing the job, submitted a bill for about $310,000, with an additional amount of about $9,000 including printing, advertising and $4,000 to Smith for administrative fees.
At this point Carl McGee said, “I had a conversation with Mr. Smith the other day and this $4,000 charge for administrative services came up. Mr Smith please explain to the Board what this is for.”
“The board authorized me to submit other applications for the county,” Smith said.
McGee asked for clarity on submission of grants applications.,
Smith explained to the board that an application submitted to MDEQ for the second round of funding in January of 2023 was approved for three water associations, and as a part of that submittal there were administrative services connected to those applications. There was a budget for those services, and that’s where the $4,000 fee came from.
McGee said, “We are already paying Mr. Smith to apply to grants and things like that, X number of dollars a month for these same administrative services, now I just have a concern that we’re already paying you and yet, if there is a contract that contains administrative fees you get that too. That was not what I understood to be the case when the contract was agreed to and signed, for those administrative services, that’s kind of double dipping.”
Smith answered, “Mr. McGee you’ve said this before and I’ve explained it before, in my contract that I submitted to the attorney and he returned that contract to me, and in that contract in the payment section it says that the consultant shall be entitled to administrative fees that are provided through those grant submittals, and that’s what this is.”
The next bit of news Smith offered the board changed the tone, The RAISE Discretionary Grant program instituted by the Biden/Harris Administration offers 1.5 billion dollars in grant funds.
The RAISE discretionary grants help project sponsors at the state and local levels, including municipalities, counties, and others complete critical freight and passenger transportation infrastructure projects.
The eligibility requirements of RAISE allow project sponsors to obtain funding for projects that may be harder to support through other USDOT grant programs.
“Across the country, I have seen firsthand how projects funded by our RAISE program are helping communities realize long-held dreams and well-planned visions for better infrastructure,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in a press release on their transportation.gov website.
Buttigieg said, “Thanks to President Biden’s leadership, we are delivering safer, cleaner infrastructure to communities of every size and in every part of the country, creating a new generation of jobs and helping families build generational wealth in the process.”
Smith said, “The Deadline to apply is Feb. 28, 2024, and I will have proposals well before that date for the board to vote on.”
Smith finished his time before the board by saying the advertising for the The Homebuyer Fair being held Jan, 24, 2024, at the Washington County Library, 3-5 p.m. was too successful.
Smith said, “It is good to know that so many residents of Washington County wanted to be homeowners, but the expected turn out for the event was going to quickly overwhelm the resources set aside for this event.”
