FEMA Grant Application Extension Approved

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) award that has been the subject of discussion at the Lincoln Parish Police Jury has had its deadline for applications extended to November 30, 2020.

Lincoln Parish News Online (LPNO) last week executed a public records request to the Governor’s Office Of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GHOSEP) for documents related to the $2.9 million award, and the extension request and approval were among the items we received.

The extension request was dated 8/17/20, the same date as the letter notifying the LPPJ of the award.

See here the extension request.

The extension was approved on 9/4/20, four days prior to the 9/8/2020 police jury meeting where the grant was discussed.

See here the extension approval.

As of late yesterday afternoon, no project applications for this award have been received by GOHSEP, according to their office.

This extension was the second asked for and received.

On May 19, 2020, a 90-day extension was requested to “allow subapplicants the opportunity to complete their project subapplications which is an integral step in creating resilient communities through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP).”

See here the extension request.

That extension was approved on 6/24/2020.

See here the approval letter.

Several other documents show that the grant award was in the works as early as June of 2019. Here are the documents:

June 26, 2019 – Policy and requirements
September 9, 2019 – Initial cost estimates
March 19, 2020 – Revised cost estimates

It is unclear to what degree local governmental entities – Lincoln Parish Police Jury, City of Ruston, Louisiana Tech, etc – were involved in the early stages of the process, or were in the loop when correspondence was exchanged.