Township staff have been authorized to seek outside assistance to prepare a grant application for a bridge replacement project.
At the Aug. 25 meeting, Mapleton council passed a resolution to authorize staff to submit an expression of interest to the Ontario Community Infrastructure Program for funding for reconstruction of a bowstring arch bridge on Sideroad 17 and to retain the services of a third party to complete the application.
Council selected the bridge project, expected to cost about $728,000, from a list of potentially-eligible projects provided in a report by public works director Brad McRoberts, including:
– road reconstruction and servicing improvements on King, Queen, Wortley and Market streets on Drayton at an estimated $1.8 million;
– a $500,0000 Moorefield downtown revitalization project;
– a wastewater treatment facility upgrade estimated at $2 million; and
– a water tower project for $2.25 million.
The report notes some of the other projects might be better suited to different grant programs. McRoberts pointed out the Sideroad 17 bridge, located south of the 4th Line, is currently under a two-ton load restriction, which makes the project “a safety issue.”
The funding program focuses on roads, bridges, water and wastewater and is a two-stage process, including an expression of interest stage followed by a formal application stage for those selected.
The report suggests hiring a third party to prepare the application due to the township’s recent lack of success in obtaining federal and provincial grant money.
“The third party would ideally specialize in preparing these applications. It may be worthwhile to try these services to see if there is greater success,” the report states.
While noting she was unsure “whose responsibility it has been in the past to write expression of interests,” councillor Lori Woodham said, “I’d like to give the opportunity to the staff.”
Woodham said she would like to see staff members “empowered to attend a grant writing workshop or course if need be.”
McRoberts suggested in his report that the township’s engineering firm, R.J. Burnside and Associates, might be willing to provide some assistance with applications.
“If Burnside is willing to assist us with this no charge I have no problem with that,” said Woodham.
McRoberts said the idea is to tailor applications to the expectations of the ministries offering grants. He added, “It was just suggested strategically that it might be advantageous to have a third party do it, just to pick up those key buzzwords.”
“Let’s try something different,” suggested councillor Dennis Craven. “Let’s try it two or three times and see if we have more success.”
Councillor Michael Martin said the township’s strong fiscal position may have had more impact on the failure to land grant money than problems with the applications.
“I would struggle to put out additional money without having any idea (how much) it would be … and have no additional guarantee of success,” said Martin, noting he would feel differently “if we could say definitely our staff aren’t filling out the applications properly.”
McRoberts said he didn’t expect the cost of third party assistance to be significant.
“I’m not looking at outrageous costs. I’m looking at pretty modest,” he said.
Finance director Yufang Du suggested the township try to negotiate an arrangement under which the third party would receive a percentage of grant money obtained – and “If we’re not successful, they don’t charge anything.”
Martin asked if council was being asked to authorize retaining third party grant writers as an ongoing practice or “a one-time thing.”
Mayor Neil Driscoll said the decision would be made separately for each grant application.
McRoberts said assistance might only be required for a few applications.
“It might be advantageous if we try to go this route and see if we have some success. We can learn what others do, then replicate that process on our own in subsequent applications,” he suggested.
