By Sherry Loos, Ohio RCAP State Coordinator
Over the past few months, many of us have wondered if our leaders in Washington would finally come together around passing an infrastructure stimulus package. I recall the frenzy over grant dollars during the ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) days following its passage in 2009. Some were winners, some were losers and some were lucky! What distinguished these three groups? Those who had planned good projects and were further along in the project development process definitely had a leg up. Those who had already followed best practices in developing a needed project were at the head of the line. Those who had an idea, and not much else, scrambled to get in on rush of funding. A few of them got lucky, many walked away empty handed, and worse, some incurred significant engineering expenses.
Following best practices for project development positions your community to take advantage of the best available funding at all times. Being prepared and planning well in advance of when a project is absolutely needed offers the advantage of time. If your community and your project qualify for special grant or subsidized loan programs, time may give you the opportunity to apply more than once if you aren’t successful the first go-around. Following best practices for project development ensures you are not wasting your customers’ money and state and federal tax dollars on superfluous projects.
Do you have some money available for preliminary engineering and project planning? The idea for a project will be dead on arrival if you can’t pay for some preliminary engineering. Is it impossible? No, but the very few sources of grant for planning activities are generally not quick or easy, and rarely are they fit for projects. If you are already in a financially precarious position, it is time to raise your rates. RCAP can help you apply for a planning loan, but you will have to show that your rates can support future loan payments if the project doesn’t move forward. The discussion about rate increases is another topic for another day, but keep in mind new Low Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP) funding may help residents who have been financially impacted by the pandemic who are struggling to pay their bills if that is the overriding concern.
What outcomes do you want to achieve?
This is perhaps the most important question to ask. What problem are you trying to solve? What outcome are you hoping to achieve, and are these clearly defined? Once you have that figured out, then you can get to work on figuring out the best solution to your problem. In some cases, this will be obvious, but other cases, it’s important to consider the alternatives.
For example, if you are having a lot of inflow/infiltration problems in your sanitary sewer system, do you know what are the biggest contributors to the problem? Have you actually studied the system? Has anyone confirmed it? And, once you know where it is coming from, what do you need to do to fix the problem? A large sewer collection system or manhole replacement project might, or not if the problem is really coming from private property sources. An EQ basin buys the community some time but doesn’t actually address the problem. Is it better to invest money into fixing the problem?
Another critical step in this early part of the process, have you adequately documented the problem you are trying to fix? This is important. Funding agencies need this. And I encourage systems to gather as much compelling photographic evidence as they can when it’s possible. As much as reports and tables will tell the story, nothing is more impactful than a photo of a crumbling piece of pipe or a foot of dirty water with raw sewage in a family’s basement. A strongly worded inspection report or letter from OEPA also helps.
Have you hired the best engineer? The Ohio Revised Code requires communities to follow a Qualifications-Based Selection process to hire a qualified engineering firm for a reason. It’s not a process to hire the lowest bidder for engineering services. You want engineers with expertise and experience in designing solutions to fix your particular problem, and they need to have experience working with funding agencies.
Have you picked the best project to achieve your desired outcomes? Once your engineer has developed a solution and possibly different alternatives to consider, ask, is this really the right solution for us? A major plant upgrade might solve the problem, but what are the long-term ramifications? Will operating costs go up? Electric? For small systems especially, do you have or can you find and afford qualified operators who are capable of running it? Is there a better option to purchase water or send sewage to another system for treatment?
Once you have defined your problem and desired outcomes, picked the right engineer, found money to pay for preliminary and possibly design engineering, and decided on the best solution, it’s time to get to work on funding and designing your project. At a minimum, you will need a detailed project cost estimate that includes all project expenses, certified by a Professional Engineer, and a General Plan or Preliminary Engineering Report in a format the likely funding agencies will approve.
To really get to the front of the line and have a ‘shovel ready’ project, those plans/PER’s need to be approved, the design engineering completed, and the detailed plans approved by both Ohio EPA and your funding agencies. Federal funders will also require an Environmental Assessment, which can add at least a few months to the process. In many cases, communities will need to obtain design loans in the interim to cover expenses during the design phase. We are very fortunate in Ohio to have 0% planning and design loans available through Ohio EPA, as well as fast funding readily available through the Ohio Water Development Authority.
Can my elected officials help? My answer right now is maybe. The new congress is returning to the practice of allowing some earmarks for projects. It certainly won’t hurt to reach out and put your project on their radar. You will probably find more success in this effort if you know which programs you are hoping to target, know your eligibility, and have preliminary engineering and certified cost estimates ready at hand with real numbers to share. Keep in mind, though, your community still has to meet the basic eligibility requirements of the funding program you want to pursue, and a hurried effort by agencies to push a slug of new grant money through the process won’t waive the usual NEPA environmental review process, federal prevailing wage and other strings attached to these funds.
Hurry up, and wait. Also, keep in mind when the call goes out to nominate projects and ‘get in line’ for funding, you want to be ready and responsive, but the agencies that have to process applications and administer funding aren’t going to suddenly double the size of their ‘pipe line’. It takes time to hire and train people to run these programs. In most cases, the agencies will have to do what they can with the staff they have now. So, once projects are identified and selected for funding and you are on the list, be ready to be patient. Encourage your staff and ask the consulting engineer to do as much as they can to make the review process as easy as possible. Agencies won’t have the luxury of time to do as much handholding as they might otherwise. Applications and plans riddled with mistakes or omissions could push a project down the list as funders are under pressure to get their money out the door.
Project development and funding is not always a neat, linear process. Sometimes, you will need to explore and pursue more than one funding path in the hopes that one will result in a better funding package. But, if you really need to do this project, you have documented the problem, and figured out your best solution, the effort will not be wasted. It may take more time to fund, but eventually, a good project will be funded.
For water and sewer systems serving less than 10,000 people, RCAP is here to help! RCAP is a non-profit program offering free technical assistance, project development and grant writing services, and training to public water and sewer systems. Learn more at ohrcap.org.