Finance Committee Meeting – BUILD Grant Authorization – February 10, 2026
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Finance Committee Meeting – BUILD Grant Authorization – February 10, 2026
The Finance Committee meeting on February 10, 2026, opened with the adoption of the previous meeting's minutes. The agenda consisted of a single item: a resolution to authorize the city's application for a BUILD grant for a corridor improvement project that includes pedestrian, lighting, and camera enhancements and crosses a railroad. The city would provide a $4 million match (15% of the $26.6 million total) to strengthen the application. After staff presentations and committee discussion, the authorization was approved unanimously.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes of the prior meeting were adopted by voice vote with no opposition.
Discussion Items
- City staff (Mr. Gardner, Ms. Standridge, and Clint) reviewed the grant history: the city previously applied for a RAISE grant in 2022 (not awarded but received favorable comments) and planned to apply for a BIP grant last fall (canceled). The 2026 BUILD grant opportunity opened soon after, and the committee was asked to authorize the application.
- The $4 million match was calculated as about 15% of the total project cost, based on a traditional 80% federal / 20% local split and adjusted to be competitive. Clint noted that the match is not required but would improve the application's chances. Committee member McCarthy clarified that the $1.5 million already budgeted and spent on preliminary design is separate from the match.
- Clint presented the project scope and timeline. Preliminary design is underway; final design will follow. The grant announcement is expected around June–July 2026. Right-of-way acquisition (16 parcels) is estimated to take 1.5 years, and construction is planned from January 2028 to December 2029 (2 years). The timeline accounts for coordination with the railroad, which operates 24/7 near a rail yard.
- Renderings showed a 10‑foot shared-use path on the north side and a sidewalk on the south side, with pedestrian lighting and cameras covering the entire project limits. The new bridge over the railroad will not require closing the existing bridge; construction will be coordinated with the railroad company.
- A committee member asked about comments from a July 2025 public meeting (denoted as “HM”). Staff confirmed that they adjusted the design to avoid the HM property’s right-of-way, addressing that concern.
- Mayor praised the staff for their thorough presentation and coordination.
Key Outcomes
- A motion was made and seconded to authorize the application for the BUILD grant, including a $4 million city match. The committee voted unanimously in favor (voice vote). The item was approved.
- The committee will know the outcome of the grant application by late June or July 2026, barring any federal government shutdown.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, no motion. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Minutes are adopted. All right. One item on the finance committee. One item. So if y'all remember last week, um, Mr. Gardner and Miss Standridge gave all kind of a brief introduction about this grant and about the scope of this project. So today Clint and I are going to kind of give you some more details, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask us. So back in 2022, we applied for the race grant. We were not awarded, but the DOT did give us comments that were favorable for our application. And then last fall we were going to apply for the BIP grant, but it was canceled prior to the application window opening. Shortly after that, the 2026 build grant opened, and so that is what we are requesting today is authorization to apply for it. So as you can see with the grant funding, the we are asking for a four million dollar match. A match is not required for this application. However, we do believe that this would make our application more competitive. This would be about a 15% match. So as you can see, the federal request would be about 22.6 million. You have that four million dollar match, and then a total of 26.6. So after this, we're gonna go into kind of the scope of the project. I'm gonna let Clint take over and kind of give some more details about it. But as you can see from this map, this is where the project location is, and it's gonna be in counselor eating's district. So who and how is the calculation? I mean, we talked last week in projects, right? About no match required, but obviously as we try to turn the dial to make our request most competitive, part of that was completed design, which is what we reviewed last week. Who who came up with the four million and how we were basing it off of our previous application? So in the past it was an 80-20 percent, like 80 percent federal, 20% local, and so then whenever we were looking, we were thinking four million dollars would make it to where 15% would be competitive, but it also would be where you know it would be fair, and that is also what our contract with gray matter consulting when they were looking at other past applications in this application they recommended as well. Ms. McCarthy, does that include the one and a half that's already been budgeted by the city and the dollars that are being spent? Does that include is that part of the 15% or that four million? Is that separate or separate? Okay, that one and a half was for the year. Yes, sir. To get us really to this point where yes do that. Okay, thank you. So we we took the 8020 and just dialed it a little bit to the right and went that should be maybe better. Yes, sir. Clint, you're up. All right. So project timeline. Um we're in the preliminary design right now. Um that's where we're at right now. We got the final design coming up next. Um we should hear more about the uh announcement from the bid uh build grant around June, July or so. Um right away acquisition. There's I believe there's uh 16 different tracks. You know, it's uh that that's always uh we we we're estimating about a year and a half it'll take to get all right away. You know, obviously University Boulevard, that was a that was we we did a heroic effort to get that uh done in about eight nine months, but um we got we just we have a year and a half for right away and then construction we got from January 28 to December 29.
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