The Town of Oak Creek Board of Trustees has unanimously approved a resolution supporting a congressionally directed spending request of $1.51 million to replace aging drinking water distribution lines and related infrastructure along Moffat Avenue.

The town board is opting to chase congressionally directed spending dollars for the otherwise-unfunded major infrastructure overhaul rather than pursue federal money for the currently partially-funded Sheriff Reservoir Dam safety project.

With a March 27 deadline looming for the congressional request — an extension from prior timelines — Town Manager Louis Fineberg, at the town trustees’ March 12 meeting, outlined trade-offs between pursuing congressional funding for the bulk of the Moffat Avenue project versus closing a $620,000 gap for the dam upgrades. 

The Moffat Avenue project, he said, would include the replacement of water lines on one of the town’s more deteriorated streets, with a local match from the town of approximately $380,000. 

That leverage, he said, made it a “great project,” especially since it includes paving the road, addresses a problematic intersection and bundles in sewer line replacements funded by the town’s match.

The dam project, on the other hand, is a smaller but weaker ask, Fineberg explained, as it has already received around $4.7 in total funding, including $3.5 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, $1 million from local agencies and $250,000 from the town.  

The dam, owned and operated by the town of Oak Creek, is currently subject to storage restrictions and is considered a “high-hazard embankment dam,” according to the state Division of Water Resources.

Conditions leading to that designation include inadequate spillway capacity and operational issues linked to an aging low-level outlet works gate. Other issues include a sinkhole discovered in the dam’s foundation and outlet issues linked to a stem casing that is not watertight and a gate that does not close properly.

“One of the concerns I have with submitting a congressionally directed spending request for the dam is (the reviewers) saying, ‘Don’t you have $3.5 million in FEMA funding already? Why are you asking us for more money?'” said Fineberg.

While the $3.5 million grant from FEMA announced last year marked a major milestone for the long-stalled dam upgrades, the remaining challenge is the $620,000 gap that the town had previously hoped would be filled by funding from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. 

Whether DOLA will have a funding round in 2027, said Fineberg, remains uncertain — a concern he had initially expressed in September after the town received the FEMA grant.

If it does, then the town has a reasonable chance of getting the dollars; if not, the town would have to seek other funding sources and/or increase its match, a path he feels “reasonably confident” going down if DOLA indeed does not have a funding round, since work on the dam project cannot commence until 2027 regardless. 

“I’m not a betting man, but if I was, I would say that we can come up with $600,000,” he told the town trustees. 

Upon reviewing an engineer’s cost estimates for several potential projects, Fineberg said, using the congressional spending request for the Moffat Avenue water lines project allows the town to “maximize what they’re asking for.” 

“Mind you, federal funding always takes time, so the lines might not be replaced for a few years,” he clarified. “But if we had the funding secured, then that’s most of the battle.”

“I love the idea of being able to start hacking away at our water lines in town, because we know that we have serious infrastructure issues underneath the ground, so drinking water for our community is definitely important,” said Mayor Melissa Dobbins. 

Dobbins also floated publicizing the dam project in local media to drum up financial contributions, noting that “there are so many people that want to help the community and do have donations to give out.” 

“I think what Oak Creek should be looking to do is to kind of set a cadence with this stuff,” said Fineberg at the close of the discussion. “Every year, there should be a project going on, even if it’s a small one.” 

Ultimately, the trustees unanimously approved a resolution to dedicate the funding request to the Moffat Avenue water line and infrastructure project. Awarded projects will be announced later this year or early next year.

Over $141 million in congressionally directed spending has been approved this year to fund roughly 110 projects across Colorado, including several infrastructure, affordable housing, child care and energy projects.