The American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009
March 16, 2009
---------------------
On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law The
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Otherwise known
as the economic stimulus package, the act is meant to create and
sustain jobs, help the United States recover from the current
recession, and invest in transportation, environmental and other
infrastructure projects that will provide long-term benefits to the
nation.
The act contains nearly 200 separate funding elements. For
each element (program), there may be a different distribution
mechanism:
▪ Where there are existing allocation formulas, funds will be
distributed using those formulas.
▪ Some funds will go to the states and the states will have control
of the funds. They may make the funds
available to communities, but the states will not be
required to do so.
▪ Some funds will be allocated by federal agencies through a
competitive grant process.
▪ In some cases, a distribution mechanism has not been
developed.
Congress has indicated that by mid-March all the “rules” for
distribution will be in place. At this time, there are no
official lists of projects or grants. Thus far, the only federal
funds to be authorized for local distribution are those for
transportation and infrastructure. This investment includes $27.5
billion that will be distributed directly to the states and
Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO’s) by existing statutory
formulas.
Some key points regarding stimulus dollars for the City of Terre
Haute include:
1. There are
still a lot of unknowns about what stimulus
dollars the City might get and what projects will be approved. What we
do know is that Indiana will get approximately $700 million dollars for
infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.) and the State (INDOT) will keep
55% and the remaining 45% will be distributed to local government via
existing federal formula (population based).
2. Any project
that local government wants to be considered for funds must meet the
following “shovel ready” criteria:
a. Must already
be on an approved INDOT project planning list.
b. Must already
be on the approved local MPO project planning list.
c. Must
have all design work completed.
d. Must have all
environmental work completed.
e. Must have all
property acquisition completed.
f. Must be 100% local or state funded. There can be no federal
funds previously designated for one of these projects.
3 The only project that the City has that will clearly meet
this specific criteria is Brown Blvd. (Phase 1 & 2). We have
completed the redesign of Phase 1 (taking out the roundabouts) and all
environmental and property acquisition is complete. Phase 2 was
designed by the previous administration and has been sitting in
engineering waiting to be redesigned (removal of some costly
aesthetics, so we can fund the project in the future). There is no
environmental work or property acquisition on this project. (Note: Vigo
County only has only one project - 7th and Springhill - that
meets the criteria.)
4 None of our other projects meet the current federal criteria.
Here are some examples and the reason they do not qualify:
a. Margaret Ave.
Phase 1 – Has existing federal funds attached to it.
b. Blakely Ave.
Extension – Has existing federal funds attached to it.
c. Margaret Ave. Phase 2 & 3 – Both are in design phase and
no environmental work or property acquisition will begin until next
year.
d. Lafayette
Ave. – North of Ft. Harrison has been designed, but no
environmental work or property acquisition has occurred because we have
no funding in place to do this project.
5 My
preference would be to use any stimulus funds to do Margaret Ave Phase
2 (behind Wal-Mart). It truly meets the intent of economic stimulus
because we will open up a lot of property for development out east. The
problem is the re-design won’t be completed until this summer and then
we start the environmental and property acquisition work which could
take months.
6 The next step is to fill out applications for any projects
that we feel meet the established criteria. We will likely apply for a
few that don’t quite meet the criteria today but will in a couple of
months.
On March 2, 2009, representatives from the City met with the state’s
Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) and the Indiana Economic
Development Corporation (IEDC). With the help of Ball State
University and the University of Southern Indiana, OCRA and IEDC are
compiling a database of economic development projects from across the
state. This data will be used by OCRA and IEDC to help direct
communities to the proper funding source for grants. In addition,
we continue to communicate weekly with our state legislative
consultants for additional opportunities.
At the federal level, we are in constant contact with our senators
and congressman through our consultant in Washington, D.C. Two
weeks ago, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum
to federal agency heads that provides implementing guidance for
the stimulus act. The memo states that agencies must post
funding opportunity announcements (i.e., synopses) for grants and
cooperative agreement awards by mid-March. Within ten days of
those postings, agencies are required to provide full
announcements. We're monitoring this very closely.
At this point, the implementation of programs and distribution of
the stimulus funds are pretty dynamic. As we get further into the
process, we expect there to be changes in criteria and qualifications.
You can be assured that I will not waste any local, state of
federal funds on anything that is not good for the community. My
hope is that a “softening” of the project requirement criteria will
occur because all communities face these exact same issues. I have
discussed this with Congressman Ellsworth and he is hearing the same
thing from Mayors throughout the 8th District. We will also
work hard to get other projects “shovel ready” in the event that future
stimulus money would be available through direct funds.
Please, do not hesitate to contact my office if you have any
questions.
Duke A. Bennett, Mayor
March 24, 2009
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Update: The following table shows the current funding that the
City of Terre Hatue is expecting in various areas through direct
formula allocation. In some cases, an application for the funds
is still required. Each department will continue to meet the
requirements of the funding source. As of today, there is no
specific timeframe for these funds to be received by the City:
|
Focus area
|
Agency
|
Project
|
Description
|
Specific Source
|
Potential Funding
Amount
|
|
Street / Road Construction
(Transportation)
|
Fed. Hwy Admin.
|
Transportation Improvement Program
|
Brown Blvd.
Phase II
|
Formula based through INDOT and MPO
|
$1,800,000
|
|
Transit
|
Fed. Transit Admin.
|
Transit Capital Funds
|
Buses / Shelters
Garage
|
Formula based MPO grant
|
$1,369,388
|
|
Housing and Urban
Development
|
Dept. of HUD
|
1) CDBG
2) Homeless
Prevention
|
Waiting on specific rules
|
Formula based
Formula based
|
1) $496,921
2) $760,163
T) $1,257,084
|
|
Public Safety
|
Dept. of Justice
|
Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program
|
Equipment for THPD
|
Formula based direct funding
|
$131,523
|
April 24, 2009
-------------------
TRANSIT UPDATE: Projects identified for Transit include remodeling
of the current garage, 2 new hybrid buses and 3 new diesel buses, an
upgraded GPS system, 5 new bus shelters, new radios and new “smart
card” fare boxes. The projects have been approved and are now awaiting
approval of the driver’s union which is required for Federal projects.
The engineer has begun the design phase for the building rehabilitation
and, as soon as all of the approvals are in, we should get the
notification that the money is available. At that time, we will
begin issuing all of the RFQ’s that are required, and then the awarding
of bids.
May 6, 2009
--------------------
PUBLIC SAFETY UPDATE: The Terre Haute Police Department is now
working on two different ARRA grant applications. The first, JAG
Program, has identified the funding to be allocated as follows (these
are approximate numbers): $30,000 will be given to the Vigo
County Sheriff's Department, $10,000 will go tot he Vigo County Drug
Court, $75,000 will be used to purchase five motorcycles for the
Traffic Division, $23,000 will be used for new laptop computers for
squad cars and $1,000 for the purchase of a fingerprint development
chamber.
The second program, the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
grant, has been applied for. The purpose of the program is to add
new or restore otherwise unfilled officer positions during the national
economic downturn. If approved, this will fund six officers
(including benefits) for three years. We are awaiting a
response.
July 14, 2009
-----------------
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, has
provided the Department of Homeland Security with $210,000,000 to fund
the construction and/or modification of fire stations. The
program will be administered by the Assistance to Firefighters Program
Office under FEMA’s Grant Programs Directorate.
The Terre Haute Fire Department has applied for $1,300,000 to
renovate Fire Station 5 located at the corner of 9th St. and Ohio
St. This will include expansion of the existing building.
October 30, 2009
-------------------
HUD UPDATE: Reports were filed on Oct. 7th for the
City’s grants that the Department of Redevelopment is
administering.
CDBG-R: $496,921 - One contract was awarded for the
reconstruction (curbs, gutters, installation of a storm water system,
new street trees, etc.) of 24th Street from Barbour Ave. to
Maple Ave. for $416,781.46 on 9/08/09 (this includes inspection work
being preformed by the City Engineering Dept); 22 employees;
approximately 50% complete.
HPRP: $760,163 – One contract awarded to Terre Haute Housing
Authority to serve as “Single Point of Contact” for intake and case
management. Services began on October 1, 2009. No funds were
expended during the first quarter.
INSP – Contract with IHCDA signed by Mayor Bennett on October 1,
2009. No funds were expended during the first quarter.
TRANSPORTATION UPDATE: Bids were opened on August 26, 2009 and
the project was awarded to Poindexter Excavating. Poindexter
should be starting work this week and the project will conclude next
September. Approximately 17 jobs have been created or
maintained.
PUBLIC SAFETY UPDATE: Grant # 2009RKWX0355 (COPS Grant) will
allow the City to hire six new officers. The ARRA
Report was filed on October 7th. The hiring process will
take a minimum of two months. The start date will depend on the
notification of candidates from the merit commission. The end date
is 07/01/2013.
Grant # 2009-SB-B9-1964 (JAG Grant) for $154,451 This grant had to
be shared with the Vigo County Drug Court, $10,000, to help with the
Drug Court Coordinators Salary. The Vigo County Sheriff’s Office
received $35,000 to implement Video Arraignment for three county
courts. The West Terre Haute Police Department received $17,928 for
various equipment upgrades. The Haute Police Department received
$91,523. Of this, $75,000 was used for the purchase
of five new motorcycles (to replace those that were ten years
old), $15,523 was used to purchase ten laptop computers for squad cars,
and $1000 for a latent fingerprint development chamber. All of this
grant money has been drawn down, the invoices for the Motorcycles, and
the other departments receiving money have been turned in, as of
October 8, 2009.
November 17, 2009
-------------------
TRANSIT UPDATE: Projects previously identified have been awarded
contracts. All were awarded by October 27, 2009. Three
Light Duty Diesel Buses, from Midwest Transit, are expected to be
delivered by March 31, 2010 at a cost of $214,356. Radio and GPS
Tracking updates have been received. Total cost was
$57,440. Two Hybrid Buses, from Midwest Transit, are expected to
be delivered by the end of December, 2009 at a cost of $408,302.
Farebox upgrades, from Genfare GFI, should be installed by November 30,
2009. Cost for the upgrade is $274,884. The final project
is the Tranist Garage Remodel. CDI, Inc. is the contractor and
hopes to complete the work by the end of 2009.
February 24, 2010
-------------------
Department of Energy: The City applied for and received an
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) in the amount of
$617,000. The City's project for this funding source will involve
changing current traffic signal bulbs to the more energy efficient LED
lamps. Additionally, control boxes and electronics will be
updated to enable better control over how the systems function.
The new LED lamps will use less energy and last longer than the current
bulbs. Once the City receives funding from the DOE it plans to
release a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to begin the planning
process for the project.
July 15, 2010
--------------
TRANSIT UPDATE: All projects identified for Transit, including the
garage, hybrid buses, diesel buses, upgraded GPS system, bus shelters,
new radios and new “smart card” fare boxes, have now been
completed.
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For additional information concerning the ARRA and the spending of
money in Terre Haute, please visit the Federal Recovery Site at:
www.recovery.gov
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