Cardinal Engineering Clients Receiving Water/Wastewater Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)

Mareta Woodard, Cardinal Engineering’s Grant and Projects Administrator has announced that seven (7) of Cardinal Engineering, LLC clients have received Water/Wastewater Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) totaling $1,637,437.00. 

The grant awards range in amounts of $175,000.00 to $450,000.00.  These grants are applied for and funded through the Oklahoma Department of Commerce (ODOC).  Those clients receiving grant funding are: Town of Billings, City of Blackwell, Town of Buffalo, City of Cherokee, Town of Goltry, City of Pond Creek and the Town of Ringwood. The Community Development Block Grants will be used to make various infrastructure improvements ranging from drilling new water wells, new waterline replacement and relocation, water storage tank rehabilitation and improvements, along with sewer line and manhole replacements.  The grant funds will also be utilized for engineering, surveying, inspection and grant administration costs.

The CDBG application process began in January 2016 with the application deadline being May 1st, 2016 and funding announcements were made by ODOC on September 22nd according to Ms. Woodard. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce receives approximately $13,000,000.00 annually from the Housing of Urban Development (HUD) to award in grant dollars statewide. This year (2016) Ms. Woodard submitted eleven (11) applications with seven (7) receiving grant funding. The grantees also make a financial investment to the projects by committing their own local dollars or other grant funds received by various state agencies such as the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) or their local Councils of Government (COG).

Because CDBG consists of federal dollars, there are unique financial and programmatic requirements in which Ms. Woodard assists the cities and towns with. Her role as grant administrator is to ensure all HUD requirements are complied with to ensure the proper implementation of the project, such as a complete environmental review, all Department of Labor requirements, proper bidding and procurement procedures, etc. 

On September 21, 2016 the seven (7) entities receiving funding, met with Ms. Woodard and representatives from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce (ODOC) at the Cardinal Engineering office in Oklahoma City to attend a required Technical Assistance training session.  This meeting was to congratulate and educate the cities and towns on the requirements of the grants.