After an article titled “Sheriff Reservoir Dam safety project gains momentum, but funding challenges persist” was published by the Steamboat Pilot & Today on Oct. 1, Shannon Gray, communications director for the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, wrote to the newspaper with comments clarifying the department’s financial contributions to the project. 

The article reported, according to information from Oak Creek Town Manager Louis Fineberg, that DOLA had been targeted to fill most of an approximately $2 million gap in funding for the dam safety project after the town made headway toward landing a $3.5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Fineberg said in the article that he had been told that DOLA would be underfunded for 2026, however, and could no longer fill that gap. 

“DOLA did not leave a funding gap,” said Gray in an Oct. 3 email to the newspaper. “The town applied for a $1 million (Emergency/Mineral Impact Assistance) grant in March 2025, but later withdrew their application in June 2025 before the request was considered due to FEMA funding falling through.”

“DOLA has not yet officially announced funding cycles for 2026,” she added. “The exact amount of funding available has yet to be determined.”

“For some additional context, DOLA has been a strong supporter of the Sheriff Dam Reservoir project, having funded the Sheriff Dam Reservoir Planning, Design & Construction in the amount of $147,500 in 2021,” said Gray. “The town requested an extension of the contract for an additional year to December 2022 to ensure the project was successfully completed, which was granted.”

Gray said that DOLA Northern Mountains Regional Manager Kate Peacock reached out to Fineberg following the publication of the article “to explain that if all project funding is now confirmed, DOLA will be happy to continue to discuss the potential for DOLA funding in the future.” 

In response to Gray’s comments, Fineberg told the newspaper that he had been informed in a meeting by Peacock “several weeks” prior that the department would be underfunded next year.

“When the Rio Blanco Hazard Mitigation Plan expired, my understanding is that FEMA said the town was ineligible for FEMA funding. At that point the town withdrew the DOLA application,” said Fineberg.

“FEMA has a requirement that all of the projects they fund be listed in a current hazard mitigation plan. Sheriff’s Reservoir is physically located in Rio Blanco County,” he continued. “However, we recently worked with the Oak Creek Fire Protection District and the Colorado Department of Public Safety on completing a record of change for the Routt County Hazard Mitigation Plan that added the project.”

“Apparently FEMA decided to accept that as good enough for their purposes,” he added.

Fineberg confirmed he has been contacted by Peacock since the publication of the article to confirm that DOLA funding was still a possibility, which “would certainly make things easier on Oak Creek.”

“The town is looking forward to getting this project done as quickly and efficiently as possible, and having DOLA participate will make the process much easier,” added Fineberg. “The town greatly values and is appreciative of the assistance that DOLA provides and we look forward to continuing our great relationship.”