October 25, 2022 |
Rawlins Mayor Terry Weickum told Bigfoot 99 that the city will accept the fact that its application for a $7.5 million state grant fell short of the mark. He added that the city will try again in December.
As reported by Bigfoot 99 on Monday, the application from Rawlins received a low score from the State Loan and Investment Office. Staffers at the SLIO recommended to its board, which includes the governor, that city not receive any of the $50 million in American Rescue Plan funding set aside by the Wyoming Legislature for local water and sewer projects.
Throughout the summer, the city had hoped the SLIB grant would help in repairs of some of the city’s chronic infrastructure problems that resulted in boil-water advisory earlier this year.
Mayor Weickum said he huddled with city and state officials yesterday to decide a new course of action in light of the rejection.
The state loan and investment office received 113 applications from counties, cities, town, special districts and tribal governments for eligible projects. The applications totaled $225,481,868 in requests.
Competition was fierce. Of the 113 requests, 19 applications will receive full funding and one, partial funding. The remaining 95 applications, including the one from Rawlins, were not recommended for funding.
Applications were graded on several categories. Scores below 17 failed to win funding. Rawlins scored a nine, third from the bottom.
Mayor Weickum said the city will address the deficiencies in its application during the next application period.
Pictured above: File photo of Rawlins City Hall. Photo by Cali O’Hare/Bigfoot 99.
The city received its audit last week shortly before the city council meeting. The governing body will accept the audit formally at its next regular meeting. Weickum said the city’s application was deficient in four or five categories. One of those areas, was the money match. The city offered the minimum amount, or 15 percent of total project cost. The mayor said the city will provide a bigger match in the next go-round with surplus monies discovered in the recently completed audit. Another problem area in the application was the scope of the project.
A person familiar with one of the successful applications in this round of SLIB grants said the engineering firm involved in the community’s project played a significant role in writing and assembling the package submitted to the state. We asked the mayor if the Rawlins application was marked down because the project was not “shovel ready.” The mayor’s response provided insight into the challenges city staff felt they faced in preparing the SLIB grant and others.
The 11-page SLIB grant process appears specific in its requests. The mayor and his team are not giving up, though. Weickum described the city’s infrastructure problem as complex. He said a band-aid fix will not be sufficient to repair the years of neglect. The mayor said he is disappointed but not deterred in seeking funding help.
The mayor has said that Governor Mark Gordon has expressed support for helping the city solve the infrastructure problems. Weickum said he did not talk with the governor yesterday.
Weickum said city staff were at work yesterday sorting out the details of the next round of local grants, including how much money will be available. Bigfoot 99 will continue to follow this story.
