Meridian City Hall

The City of Meridian is working to apply for a 2022 Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant to repair and improve North Hills Street.

The city council last week approved a agreement with Neel-Schaffer, Inc. to work with the city in preparing the grant application. Neel-Schaffer, Inc. had previously helped the City of Jackson secure a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant, which later became the RAISE grant program, for Medgar Evers Boulevard.

Public Works Director David Hodge said the Phase 1 grant would cover engineering and planning for the North Hills Street revitalization project.

The total amount of the grant, he said, would be between $1-$4 million, with the city paying a 20% match. Funds for the match would come from the city’s paving bond. Early estimates put the total cost of the project at about $28 million. A more precise cost would be available after the planning and design is complete.

Hodge said the city would be able to use the design, estimates and engineering work from Phase 1 to apply for additional RAISE funds to pay for the construction.

The RAISE discretionary grant program is administered through the U.S. Department of Transportation, and are awarded for projects that have significant impact for the community or region. A total of $1.5 billion in grant funding is available for the 2022 grant year.

The deadline to apply for the grant is April 14, Hodge said, so the city is working on a tight deadline to get its application completed before the cutoff. He said the city could expect to learn whether or not its application was successful sometime in August.

Other business

In other business, the city council voted to authorize the Mississippi Forestry Commission to manage the sale of several timber tracts.

Chief Administrative Officer Tim Miller said MFC has expertise in timber sales the city cannot match and are better suited to make the sales successful.

“The expertise they’re going to bring to this is more than what we have, and it’s a better deal than hiring someone else to do it,” he said.

Proceeds from the timber sales will be put toward the repair of Long Creek Dam, Miller said. Any additional funds will go to repair and restoration of Lakeview Golf Course.

CORRECTION: In a previous report The Meridian Star incorrectly reported where the matching funds for the RAISE grant would come from. The funds would come from the city’s paving bond. We regret the error and are happy to set the record straight.