GALVESTON — The city council on Thursday unanimously approved a plan to spend $107 million in federal disaster relief money on sewer, water and economic development projects.
The money is part of a $267.4 million grant the city received as part of the $1.3 billion in federal funds allocated to Texas for Hurricane Ike relief shortly after the storm made landfall. Last month, the council approved a $160 million plan for housing repair projects.
The approved non-housing plan is identical to recommendations presented by Deputy City Manager Brandon Wade two weeks ago.
Almost half the funds, $50 million, will be used to rebuild the city’s main wastewater treatment plant, which was inoperable for almost two weeks after it was inundated by Ike’s floodwaters.
The plan also includes $1.5 million for a vocational training facility to be operated by Galveston College and $1 million for forgivable business loans.
Although City Manager Steve LeBlanc had suggested the Galveston Economic Development Partnership administer the loan funds, Councilwoman Elizabeth Beeton said she wanted the city’s Industrial Development Corp. to oversee the program.
The council won’t set the guidelines for the loan program, including which group provides oversight, for another few months, LeBlanc said.
Council members did not discuss the $500,000 allocated for a study of the ring levee system proposed in the city’s long term recovery plan.
The council also did not dispute contributing $50,000 for a downtown master plan study or $775,000 to help restore some of the area’s historic buildings.
Councilwoman Karen Mahoney did protest the lack of West End sewer projects in the plan. It’s long past time for neighborhoods still using septic systems to get connected to the city’s sewer service, she said.
“I’m very disappointed that nothing was put in here for gravity sewer,” she said. “A lot of citizens have been crying for that for a long time. They are being ignored.”
But the city has spent at least $25 million on West End projects in the last few years, and it’s time to turn the city’s attention back to the urban core, which many residents feel has been ignored for too long, Councilwoman Elizabeth Beeton said.
