City revamps process for federal funding

There will be big changes at city hall as the City revamps its process to prepare transportation projects for federal funding.

The move comes as the City Council, prompted by City Rep. Claudia Ordaz, discussed tens of millions of federal dollars it lost out on to advance transportation projects sooner.

“We were submitting faulty applications. We were submitting projects that weren’t ready to go,” said Ordaz.

The federal dollars go through the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) which chooses who gets the money based on need and how ready the project is for construction.

The city was scrambling before when it submitted projects for funding. It wasn’t finishing preliminary work, such as environmental reviews. It also wasn’t funding the mandatory 20 percent match up front.

City Manager Tommy Gonzalez said on Monday the City before did not have a real process to choose and submit which road projects.

“We didn’t have a process set in place to make sure everything was getting done,” said City Rep. Michiel Noe in an interview after Monday’s council meeting.

“We need to start moving ahead of the game and not behind the game,” said City Rep. Emma Acosta.

She and Noe, along with City Rep. Cortney Niland sit on the MPO’s Transporation Policy Board which chooses which projects are awarded the funding.

Moving ahead means the city council will have to put politics aside: no more choosing projects that are council favorites but not ready.

City employees will also complete environmental reviews before submitting projects.

“I feel this should have been done further back in time. I’m glad that we’re now being a little more transparent with the process,” said Ordaz.