HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 01/28/2025 - Memorandum from Kerri Ishmael re Q4 2024 Grants UpdateFinance Administration
215 N. Mason St
PO Box 580, Fort Collins, CO 80522
970-221-6788
MEMORANDUM
Date: January 21, 2025
To: Mayor and Councilmembers
Thru: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Gretchen Stanford, Interim City Financial Services Director
From: Kerri Ishmael, Senior Analyst, Grants Administration
Subject: Q4 2024 Grants Update
Summary
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide an update on government grant opportunities pursued during Q4
2024 and notices of award received during Q4 2024.
Funding Opportunities Applied for in Q4
PDT
$7,036,261
Utilities
$1,000,000
SSA
$150,000
Community
Services
$9,785
Ops
Services
$11,902,884
Connexion
$2,998,275
Police $476,597
Docusign Envelope ID: E17879BE-067A-4B7E-82CE-07C132CF50C2
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A total of 17 funding opportunities were pursued during Q4 2024, totaling $23,573,802, with requests for funds
varying from infrastructure upgrades and investments to community engagement in support of centering equity in
processes and outcomes over mitigating and adapting to climate change. Specifically:
• Engineering put forth an ask under the Federal Railroad Administration’s highly competitive Railroad
Crossing Elimination Program. Total project costs of $957,020 provides planning and design for the Over
Vine Enhancing Rail Priorities and System Safety project, which serves to eliminate the at-grade crossing
located at Timberline Road and Vine Drive. An overpass is proposed along Timberline Road across BNSF
railroad tracks and Vine Drive. This proposed solution will address the historic roadway congestion and
reduce greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating the stop-and-go driving and idling time waiting on trains.
BNSF, as well as Great Western Railway, which owns the nearby switching year that runs parallel to Vine
Drive, are key stakeholders in the project.
• Environmental Services put forth an ask under the EPA’s Environmental Justice Thriving Communities
Program. The proposal for $150,000 is a community engagement project that serves to center equity in
processes and outcomes over mitigating and adapting to climate change. Environmental Services and
partners are looking to engage with people most underserved, excluded or marginalized, including our
communities of color, immigrants, low-income households and people with disabilities. Representatives for
these communities will support development of engagement activities to gather data and information over
people’s experiences of climate change day-to-day, what barriers they currently face to accessing the benefits
of climate action, and what aspirations they have for their homes and communities related to resilience and
adaptation to climate change. Community feedback will inform the City of addressing the priorities and
barriers shared through this collaborative project.
• In response to a direct invite by Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources, Utilities’ Water Quality Services
Division requested $1 million under the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program (COSWAP). The funds
will support Phase 2 of the Michigan Ditch Pre-Fire Forest Health Project (Project). Phase 1, which is
scheduled to kick off this spring, will include 150 acres of forest treatments using tethered and helicopter
logging. Phase 1, costing more than $1 million, is being funded by a state grant awarded to the City in
combination with City funds and federal funds. The Project supports needed forest treatments within Colorado
State Forest at greatest risk of post-fire erosion. These forest treatments will support protecting the City’s
Michigan Ditch, which is a critical water supply infrastructure that transports water from the upper Michigan
River to the Poudre watershed. In addition, the Project is an approved FY 2025 Congressionally Directed
Spending request in the Senate, as noted HERE, which could provide an additional $1 million for forest
treatments.
• Police Services’ Office of Human Services put forth an ask under the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’
Peace Officers Behavioral Health Support and Community Partnerships Grant Program. The request
for $240,000 will fund a contractual Mental Health Counselor to work with the Police Psychologist in providing
psychological services for Police Services staff and their family members. These professional services have
been provided by one professional expert in the past thirty-five years. Considering the increase in number of
Docusign Envelope ID: E17879BE-067A-4B7E-82CE-07C132CF50C2
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police officers combined with changes in the socio-cultural environment for law enforcement, increased work
stressors, and continued development of programs and practice standards for managing the psychological
health of police officers, the addition of a Mental Health Counselor will help in filling the current gap in
providing physiological services.
• Transfort, Engineering and FC Moves put forth several projects under the North Front Range Metropolitan
Planning Organization’s Multimodal Transportation and Mitigation Options Fund (MMOF) Call for
Projects, with request for funds totaling over $2.3 million. Funding requests include:
• The purchase of two battery electric buses, supporting Transfort’s goal to operate fully electric
buses by 2040.
• A joint request by FC Moves and the City of Loveland in support of the Front Range Passenger
Rail Fort Collins and Loveland Station Planning Study. Both cities considered the importance of
the planning project, deciding to pursue MMOF funds considering being unsuccessful in pursuit
of funds under the Federal Railroad Administration’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and
Safety Improvements Program. The planning study supports both cities planning for the
Front Range Passenger Rail that proposes intercity passenger rail service from Pueblo to Fort
Collins. Fort Collins and Loveland will evaluate suitable station sites within their respective city
limits and develop a financial plan for long-term funding needs.
• Filling the funding gap for the Foothills Transit Station and roundabout to be located at the
intersection of Overland Trail and West Elizabeth. Awarded MMOF funds would support
fulfilling the 20% match requirement under the $10.7 million award received for the project
under DOT’s FY 2023 Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant
program.
• Planning and preliminary design funds for the Connecting North College Project that serves to
address the barrier to safe active modes of transportation for the many communities on both
sides of College Ave. A huge aspect of the project is community engagement with members of
the three largest mobile home communities within Fort Collins. Feedback from community
engagement will guide development of preliminary design for future pedestrian and bicycle
infrastructure to provide connections among neighborhoods, as well as connections to existing
and new trail networks.
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Funding Opportunities Awarded Q4 2024
A total of 10 awards, totaling $20,409,138, were received during Q4 2024, corresponding to efforts by many
departments in support of furthering existing programs, as well as supporting new opportunities that align with
several strategic objectives of service areas. Specifically:
• Operation Services and Utilities received $11.7 million under DOT’s Strengthening Mobility and
Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grant program for the SPARC-FLEET 2030 project. The project
supports the City expanding electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure for City owned fleet through
implementation of a smart grid EV charge management solution. The project proposed to be completed within
the next few years aligns with the City’s 2030 emissions reduction targets while simultaneously providing
benefits to the electric grid and the entire community of Fort Collins.
• FC Moves and Engineering, with support from Larimer County and Colorado State University, were awarded
$1.7 million under DOT’s Safe Streets and Roads for All Program. Project costs totaling $2.2 million
include:
o A demonstration activity along Lake Street from Shields to College Ave that includes speed control
measures, use of separated bike lanes, potential changes to street intersections and modifications
to turning movements. Implemented modifications will inform future design and infrastructure
measures to provide safe travel at key intersections, safer pedestrian crossing opportunities and
predictable travel options by active modes users.
o An audit of standards and policies in Larimer County and City plans, codes and manuals that guide
development, infrastructure and traffic operations. The audit serves to identify standards and
$35,464,816
$20,409,138
PDT,
$3,939,944
Utilities
$4,600,000
Community
Services $9,785
Ops Services
$11,700,284
Police
$159,125
Q4 2024 - Grant Awards by Service Area
Docusign Envelope ID: E17879BE-067A-4B7E-82CE-07C132CF50C2
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policies not aligning with City’s Active Modes Plan and Vision Zero Action Plan, with recommended
amendments to be developed through engagement with key stakeholders.
o A study of Harmony Road from John F. Kennedy Pkwy to the West I-25 Frontage Rd. to develop
concepts to mitigate speed-related risks and reduce severe crashes involving pedestrians, cyclists
and other vulnerable road users.
• Energy Services, in partnership with the Colorado Energy Office, Aspen and Boulder, received funding under
the Department of Energy’s Assistance for Adoption of the Latest and Zero Building Energy Code
Adoption program coming out of the Inflation Reduction Act. Energy Services will use $4.6 million to manage
a multi-year program to support commercial budling owners in adopting updated building energy codes.
Proposed offerings include providing building owners with advanced financial education over available
funding sources to implement needed building measures/upgraded, as well as technical audits to identify
needed implementation measures.
• Police Services received $70,000 through the state’s Victim Assistance and Law Enforcement (VALE) Board
in support of the Victim Assistance - City of Fort Collins Unit. These funds will support personnel costs, as
well as training and other support costs for the volunteer Victim Advocates.
The City was awarded 58% of total funds requested.
The City is awaiting the outcomes on several grant applications, with total asks of $13,809,708.
PDT
$8,288,010 Utilities
$2,053,268
SSA $150,000
Connexion
$2,998,275
Police $320,155
Docusign Envelope ID: E17879BE-067A-4B7E-82CE-07C132CF50C2