Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Almost two months after the Jefferson County Commission selected a consultant to help the county acquire the millions in Restore Act money that it's entitled to receive, as a result of the 2010 British Petroleum (BP) oil spill, the board last month approved the contract with Langston Associates, Inc.
Commissioner Betsy Barfield, the board member most well versed on the Restore Act, told her colleagues on Thursday, June 21, that it was imperative to get the contract signed so that Langston Associates could begin securing the BP monies. She said the three-year contract was renewable for an additional two one-year extensions after its original time period.
Per the contract, Langston will conduct the administration, monitoring and implementation of the various components of Jefferson County's Restore Act grant program, as well as provide general program guidance and grant writing and application services to the commission and staff.
“The Langston team,” according to the contract, “shall position Jefferson County in a position of strength and competitiveness for the multiple leveraging opportunities that each funding source provides, as well as seeking and securing competitive grants from agencies outside of the Restore playing field.”
Among the specific daily tasks that Langston will perform are to review the notices of funding availability, investigate the funding leverage opportunities, plan grant projects and proposals, write grant narratives, and respond to grantor agency requests for additional information.
The county's responsibilities, per the contract, are to furnish the required information and services and render approvals and decisions as necessary for the orderly progress of the consultant's services, with the county coordinator as the designated contact person.
The county will pay for the consultant from the Restore Act monies that it receives, based on the established fees set in the contract. Those fees are three and seven percents of the project costs, as detailed in the application for the grant writing and grant administration services, respectively.
The commission selected the Jacksonville-based Langston Associates over its competitor, the Tallahassee-based Government Services Group, Inc., on May 3.
The commission determined that a consultant was necessary to help the county's staff and officials navigate the extremely complicated and difficult process that is required to claim the BP monies.
The county is expected to receive $14 million in BP money by the end of July, provided all the requirements are met. Among those requirements, the county had to submit a list of the projects that it wants to accomplish with the funding, which projects also had be be reviewed and approved by various state and federal agencies.
The projects that the county has submitted for approval include continuation of the upgrades at the headwaters of the Wacissa River; acquisition of land for construction of a boat ramp at Malloy’s Landing; eradication of the exotic vegetation in the Wacissa River, particularly the hydrilla; and extension of sanitary sewer line from the Lloyd interchange to Monticello to reduce septic effluents impacting the Aucilla basin.