County commissioners are under the gun to develop a plan for distributing $166 million in Hurricane Ike housing and infrastructure repair and rebuilding grants.
A plan about how to spend the Community Development Block Grant money — 60 percent of which will go for housing and the rest for water and sewer systems, roads and power generation — must be in place by May 15, Galveston County Emergency Management Coordinator John Simsen said.
While the city of Galveston received $267 million for its housing and infrastructure needs, the county’s $166 million will have to be distributed among the remaining 12 cities and the unincorporated communities of San Leon, Bacliff, Freddiesville and those on the Bolivar Peninsula.
About $100 million will have to be earmarked to help cover the repairs or rebuilding of homes damaged by the hurricane for the poor and underinsured. As part of that process, the county will have to hire a company that will set up shop in each of the communities to take in applications and designate which are eligible for the assistance.
That same consulting group then will hire contractors to handle the construction work.
The remaining $66 million is reserved for infrastructure improvements for damages caused by the hurricane. That includes water and sewer systems, utilities, some shelters and communication systems.
The infrastructure money is distributed to cities within the county — except Galveston — and earmarked for county projects.
Using a guide of eligible projects from the state’s Office of Rural Community Affairs, county commissioners will create a priority list that cities will have to meet to get funding. Most of the requests will be for water and sewer system repairs or improvements.
Commissioner Pat Doyle said the county found the biggest hurdle to getting operations in many cities back up after the hurricane was the lack of backup power for the operation of water and sewer facilities.
“If a city comes to us and asks for a generator for the local (municipal utility district), that’s going to get our approval,” Doyle said. “But if they want money to fix a road, that’s not going to happen.”
Santa Fe Mayor Ralph Stenzel has been vocal about the need to improve Water Control and Improvement District No. 8 before the next storm hits. That project may expand after a meeting of west county officials scheduled for today to address infrastructure needs there.
Simsen said the goal is to get a plan in place within two weeks so cities can file requests by June.
Commissioners have scheduled a workshop for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to formulate its funds distribution plan.
