Mendota City Council Chooses to Spend Federal Grant Money on Paving Project

Mendota City Council decided in a 4-1 vote Tuesday night to pave upper D Street and build the city’s first storage facility using a pot of county development block grant (CDBG) money.

The city has $29,000 at their disposal, but won’t know until later this summer how much of an additional $20,000 award they have to spend.

By deciding to pave the road, the council turned down of upgrading the playground equipment at Veteran’s Park. Joan Perrin, the parks commissioner, voted against the paving project.

In council discussion, the cost of making the playground handicap-accessible according to Americans With Disabilities Act standards made that option more burdensome. Meeting those standards is a requirement for use of the federal money, and would require an accessible trail be built from the playground to an accessible parking area.

“The road is most important, “ said council member Alan Rahlston, “and we’ll take care of the park ourselves. “

There are five homes on Second Street that rely on D Street, or “High Horsehoe,” for access to Victoria Curve.

Mayor Brian Mielke and his family live in one of them, as does city clerk Jennifer Bruestle, who attested to the poor condition of the dirt road. The graded dirt road becomes pitted and difficult to navigate after bad weather, earlier this winter.

That’s when the county began working with Mendota to figure out how to spend $32,000 in accumulated CDBG grant money that the city has available to them.  That money was spent down to $29,000 after replacement of a damaged electrical pole at the park.

This year, the same grants were awarded on a competitive basis, and Mendota’s request for an additional $20,000 by the county’s CDBG Committee.

However, a portion of that grant money is up in the air. While CDBG funds are awarded at the county level, the grants are a federal program, and right now the U.S. House is proposing to cut grants substantially, said Lisa Henning, assistant director of community revitalization.

She said she was optimistic that the program would not be cut in its entirety and “confident that there will be enough” for the Mendota projects.

Using an estimate of $18,500 rather than the full $20,000, the council and Henning determined that by purchasing a storage shed of $5,000 to $10,000, the remaining total could be used to pave D Street, or “High Horseshoe” and provide a small contingency.

A county engineer estimated the project’s paving costs to be $37,500, said Henning. An earlier informal estimate given to the city by a paving company had priced the project at $20,000 leading initial discussions earlier this winter to consider possibly pursuing both projects.

The city will still need to address removal of three pieces of equipment at Veteran’s Park, likely through volunteer work. The merry-go-round, spring-loaded animal rockers and one of the two swing sets have been deemed safe but not up to snuff with the city’s insurance provider.