$2.4M in grants bring new funding to Road & Bridge

$2.4M in grants bring new funding to Road & Bridge Main Photo

8 Aug 2020


news

Dalondo Moultrie, The Seguin Gazette

 

The Guadalupe County Road and Bridge department’s fleet will soon see some new additions thanks to a couple $1 million-plus grants.

Guadalupe County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to accept grants from two state agencies totaling almost $2.5 million to help the department buy new vehicles.

TCEQ will give the county the Texas Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Program grant for $1,379,690 to purchase dump trucks, county Road Administrator Mark Green said.

“We submitted 13 trucks and got approved for 11 of them,” he said. “Today we’re just needing signatures on this so we can get it sent back in. Then it has to go through their filing process before they can say, ‘yes, this is your money and you can spend it.’”

The funds will replace trucks already in its fleet — including one that is a 1995 model, according to documents.

“With this, it’ll help us out tremendously,” Green told commissioners.

Also approved Tuesday was a grant for $1,101,544 from the Texas Department of Transportation to help the county with infrastructure projects. The grant program helps areas of the state affected by increased oil and gas production, read the agreement published online.

Guadalupe County had to submit a list of projects for funding and must stick to that list, Green said.

“The agreement is basically TxDOT stating we’re going to follow the guidelines they have set out,” he said. “We’re not going to change the project list without TxDOT approval. If we do change the project list, we’re not going to hold TxDOT responsible.”

In their discussion of the project list and acceptance of the grant, commissioners said the county has to provide a 40% match in funding. County Judge Kyle Kutscher said the Road and Bridge department has a fund balance that can be used, if need be, to offset the match.

In other business:

• Commissioners unanimously approved to publish and purchase the Guadalupe County 2018 International Fire Code with amendments. County representatives have been working on the updated fire code for several months. County Emergency Management Coordinator Patrick Pinder said the International Code Council will provide Guadalupe County with 25 custom books containing the code and five PDF versions.

• Kutscher announced county budget workshops scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 10, 1 p.m. Aug. 11 and 10 a.m. Aug. 12. Commissioners court may conclude workshops early and all dates may not necessary. For more information contact Trish Tumlinson at 830-303-8857.

Read the article on SeguinGazette.com