In an update provided by Tallulah Mayor Charles Finlayson, the City of Tallulah has released information on the $799,300 in grant funding the municipality will receive for road work.
The grant funds are from the FY 2022 Louisiana Community Development Block Grant (LCDBG) from the State of Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD).
“This is a great opportunity for the City of Tallulah to do real roadwork in our municipality,” Finlayson said. “This grant will help us fully reconstruct, not overlay or patch but fully re-construct, three major streets in our city. The streets are Tank Street (from Levee to Chester Drive); University Street (from Tank Street to Washington) and Florida Street (from Johnson Street to LaSalle Street). My hat is off to our team for putting together a great grant application.”
Finlayson pointed out that this type of grant does not just give the entire funding amount to the municipality.
“Pay requests are sent to the OCD at various milestones throughout the project,” Finlayson said. “One of the things that most people are confused with when we say we were awarded a grant is how the funding is actually processed.”
Finlayson said that with this particular grant, once the project goes out to bid, a contractor is selected and work begins.
“At various milestones, the contractor will submit invoices which are forwarded to OCD,” he said. “After a complete review of the invoices to ensure payment is in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract, OCD will then deposit funds into the city’s LCDBG account and the city will cut a check for the contractor. I want to make it perfectly clear that the city will not receive the $799,390 up front. Rather, the payment process is designed to ensure that fraudulent payments do not occur. This is actually one of the main areas (grants) that our auditors look over in detail. I intend to ensure that our grant payments submittals are done timely and accurately.”
Finlayson said only 19 municipalities were selected in this round of funding.
“We will be applying again for FY 2023 for another roads project,” he said. “We intend to continue to apply for funding for our roads because I know that is a main source of frustration for our citizens. This grant is going to make a huge difference for the citizens who live near University, Tank and Florida Streets. Our team will continue to search for funds for future re-construction of roads in Tallulah.”
