While some of the factors that determine federal stimulus funding awards can be confusing, Española officials learned the hard way that some are pretty straightforward, and the lesson is reflected in the latest batch of applications.
In April, the city sent out around 25 applications for more than $29 million in stimulus funds for what amounted to the city’s wish list of projects. To date, only one of those projects has received stimulus funding — $1.25 million to remodel Industrial Park Road and install a new drainage system. The others were were denied funding, City Planning Director Russell Naranjo said (visit the “City” section at www.riograndesun.com for this story and a complete list of projects).
“I could make some guesses as to why (the city didn’t receive more funding), but honestly they’d only be guesses,” Naranjo said. “It really gets to be totally random.”
City documents show that the project on Industrial Park Road, was also one of the only projects that had construction plans, a contractor on board, and additional funding of its own from various sources. In other words, the project was what is called “shovel ready.” Few of the others are even in the design phase, which Naranjo said may have been a contributing factor to the government’s refusal to fund them.
The city sent out a second round of applications for smaller amounts Aug. 7, and this time, the city chose projects that are further along in the planning process.
“We had five we were looking at,” Naranjo said. “We sent out the three we did because those ones have either bid documents ready or plans completed.”
These three applications are for around $400,000 each, totaling $1.2 million, from New Mexico’s allotment of stimulus funds refused by other states. Given the smaller amount of money available in the first place, Naranjo said it is likely only one of the projects will get funding, if any do.
In this latest set of applications, the city is seeking funding to repair and inspect all of its water storage tanks in the wake of last month’s water emergency, install a water line on North Llano Road to loop the existing system, and renovate City Hall to make it more energy efficient. The city should begin hearing back from the state in the next few months.
Additionally, a fourth application was put together and sent separately to cover the $250,000 cost of purchasing energy-efficient lighting for Industrial Park Road.
While awaiting the outcome of those funding applications, city staff has plenty of stimulus-related hassles to keep them busy. Last month, the state Highway Department, through which the stimulus money for Industrial Park Road was administered, handed down 30 pages of new regulations for the job, Acting City Manager Veronica Albin reported to the City Council.
The regulations did not change the scope of the project, only the language of the various contracts involved in it, Albin said. All that remains is to make the additional three pages of adjustments to the city’s agreement with their potential contractor before the project is ready for the construction phase, City Grants Administrator Lupita DeHerrera said.
“We know who our lowest bidder is and they know they were the low bid,” she said. “All we have to do is get it on paper.”
The bidder is Albuquerque-based Star Paving, the same company that was contracted by the state Highway Department to perform the construction currently taking place on Highway 84/285 in Española and Arroyo Seco. Star Paving’s bid was for $2,622,674, according to the city. Lighting will cost an additional $600,000.
Construction on the project should start sometime in early September, Public Works Director Ben Ortega said. The project was initially slated to begin construction in April, but adjustments to the plan as well as the new contract regulations caused the nearly five month delay, Albin said.
One of those changes to plans was meant to alleviate the concerns of Del Norte Credit Union and Roy Honstein Oil Company, which operate businesses (a bank and a gas station) at the intersection of Industrial Park Road and Paseo de Oñate. The final road work plans do not include a much-debated 50-foot median at that intersection, Naranjo said.
The median was proposed in the initial plans, but drew fire from both businesses because it would restrict access to their parking lots off of Industrial Park Road. A much shorter median is planned, so as not to block parking lots, Albin said.
“We’ve told (the businesses) that we will be monitoring the situation,” she said. “We’ll address any problems if they come up.”
Also included in the project are drainage improvements and cross walks near Española Middle School.
The project will cost a total of $4 million, according to city documents.
Police Get Paid The Española Police Department has been the recipient of hundred of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus funds in recent weeks. The Department, which applies for funds separately from the city, is busy hiring for five new positions paid for with stimulus funds.
Last month, the Department received a $300,000 grant through the federal Justice Department to hire two police officers and two public safety aides, as well as purchase four police vehicles for their use. The grant pays salaries and benefits for the new hires for one year, with the city committing to fund the positions for an additional year as a stipulation of accepting the money. One additional officer will be gained through $174,631 received from the Justice Department’s COPS Hiring Recovery Program. That money pays salary and benefits for the officer for three years.
Part of this money comes as part of a second round of law enforcement stimulus in New Mexico after an initial $18 million was handed out to various agencies through the Justice Department in April, Public Safety Chief Julian Gonzales said.
Española was not allocated any of that money because in part, the Department was not reporting crime statistics to the FBI at that time. Gonzales said the Department was now in the process of compiling statistics for the years it hadn’t reported at the time, and has been reporting monthly ever since.
“When I arrived here we weren’t reporting those,” he said. “But since I’ve been here we’ve been in the process of putting them together. We have not been denied any grant because of those statistics.”
Technically this is true — those earlier funds were allocated to eligible agencies by the Justice Department. But since the Police Department was not eligible for the funds, since it was not reporting its crime statistics, it could not have directly applied for or have been directly denied the funds.
Despite the missed opportunity, Gonzales said the new hires will help fill a few of the city’s more pressing needs, especially the two public safety aides. The aides are not fully sworn-in officers, which means they perform basic, more limited tasks in the department.
“For the number of people in this city, the Police Department I think is understaffed,” he said. “We need more people on patrol, more people in our detective division, and we need more people in general to accomplish that task.”
Specifically, Gonzales said he wants to use the public safety aides to free up full officers from things like escort duties that keep them from more vital work.
Gonzales said it is uncertain how the Department will continue paying the new hires past the grant-stipulated time.
“We do have some options we’re looking at and hopefully the economy will bounce back a little by then,” he said. “What the grant does is give us a little play time.”