Town of Woodland Board Minutes
CDBG Start Up Meeting
Date: June 10, 2020
10:00 AM

Board Members Present:
Randy Beale – Mayor
David Cooper – Commissioner
Donielle McDermott – Clerk

Guests Present:
Blaine Humphrey – Rivers and Associates
Andrew DeIonno – UCPCOG
Helen Page – UCPCOG
Stephanie Morris – CDBG Representative
John Tucker – CDBG-1 Engineer

Stephanie Morris led the meeting. Mrs. Morris went over the procedures for release of funding conditions, release of funds, environmental review, compliance, general and financial grant administration, other policies and procedures concerning the implementation of the grant, as well as reviewed the grant contract. Mrs. Morris discussed the requirements for annual audits, the annual performance report, quarterly progress reports, grant amendments, and requests for reimbursements of CDBG funds. The town was reminded that all funding approval conditions must be submitted to the DEQ’s office no later than February 18, 2021 and only administrative funds may be spent until the funding conditions are released and the town receives a funds letter notification. Important milestones were noted, and they are as follows:

• The Bid and Design Package date is August 18, 2021
• Submit Bid Information - Itemized Bid Tabulation date is April 14, 2022
• Execute Construction Contract date is June 3, 2022
• The contract expiration date is July 14, 2023
• The final request for reimbursement date is no later than August 31, 2023
• The final grant closeout date is October 18, 2023

A more comprehensive list will be included in the Minute Book. It is the town’s responsibility to make sure all the milestones are met.

The grant total is $983,500, with $899,000 allotted for sewer improvements while the remaining $84,500 will be used for administrative purposes.

Blaine Humphrey noted that the description of the project was not accurate. Our intentions are to replace the entire pump station, not just a pump. This was discussed and since we budgeted for the replacement of the entire pump station, this may be able to be cleared up with an amendment or at a public hearing. Mrs. Morris will determine the best way to resolve this, and in the meantime, Mr. Humphrey will send the updated description to Helen Page.

Key notes taken from the meeting:

• Whoever goes to class for the environmental and compliance training and gets certified is the one and only person able to sign the documents.
• The three conditions on page 10 of the grant contract must be met before we can spend any of the money other than administrative costs.
• The contract with our engineer must be signed before the engineer can do an engineer report.
• Page 11 of the contract contains important dates from the Notice of Intent to Fund.
• Up to 4 signatures are allowed on the signature card for reimbursement.
• When reimbursement requests are sent in, the town clerk must check the bank regularly for reimbursements. Checks must be written within three days of the day the money hits the bank.
• Copies of everything the clerk sends in should be kept on file in the office.
• DEQ will retain 5% of the admin budget until we have satisfactorily submitted our final report.
• Before and after pictures should be taken.
• John Tucker has requested copies of all the progress meetings that are to come.
• Helen Page will be the one doing the quarterly reports. The first quarterly report due to Stephanie Morris will be due by November 15, 2020 for the months of July, August, and September.
• The final report must be submitted before the final reimbursement is issued.
• For our project budget ordinance, it was recommended to only use “sewer” and “admin” line items.
• Before we sign any contract, we must go to Sam.gov and the NC debarment site to make sure they are not debarred. This information has to be printed off and saved in a file on site.
• We must follow the state’s procurement policy throughout the project. Page 6 of the CDBG-1 Start-up Visit Review Form discusses this in more detail. We need to put all things in writing and keep good records of our procurement process.
• Our grant must be placed on the LCG website.
• When the project has been complete, Helen Page will prepare the grant closeout report discussed on page 11 of the CDBG-1 Start-up Visit Review.