Two major developments today will bring long-awaited flood control projects at the state and local level one step closer to reality.
First, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released long-awaited rules detailing how some $6.8 billion in flood mitigation dollars can be spent. Louisiana is in line to receive $1.2 billion of that total and will put the money towards projects outlined in a plan called the Watershed Initiative, which divides the state into seven regional watershed and identifies projects that can serve those areas.
The federal windfall was appropriated by Congress in early 2018 but has been frozen while HUD drafted the regulations, much to the frustration of local Congressional leaders, who secured the money for Louisiana. Now that the rules are out, the projects can move forward.
One question not immediately apparent in the voluminous, 126-page book of rules is whether East Baton Rouge Parish can use a portion of the money to provide the needed match for a separate federally-funded flood mitigation project—the Storm Water Management Plan.
Mayor Sharon Weston Broome’s administration awarded a contract to do the plan, which will be funded by FEMA, to HNTB in 2017 but the project has been on hold while the parish sought a source for matching funds.
Director of Transportation and Drainage Fred Raiford says he has not yet been able to clarify whether the rules will allow the parish to use the money for the local match. But he says he is reasonably confident based on previous conversations with state and federal officials that it will be allowed.
“I feel good about it,” he says. “But I cannot tell you for certain until we’ve reviewed all the rules and gotten the OK from the state.”
In another significant development today, the state Office of Community Development, which is overseeing the Watershed Initiative and will administer the $1.2 billion in federal funds that flow to the state, notified all three teams that bid on the program management contract for the Watershed Initiative projects that it will enter into negotiations with all of them.
The three teams—one headed by CSRS and includes Arcadis and Franklin Associates; a second headed by AECOM and includes the Center for Planning Excellence; and a little known firm called Henry Consulting—submitted proposals for the project last December and didn’t hear anything back from the state until today. The contract could be worth more than $80 million.
Why OCD selected all three teams—much as EBR did with the program management contract for its MovEBR road improvement program—is unclear. But OCD Spokesman Marvin McGraw says just because the state is negotiating with all three teams does not mean it will ultimately contract with all three to manage the state-wide flood control projects.
