Midland, Michigan – At the June 10 Midland City Council meeting, the Spicer Group will present information on how engineers are evaluating and scoring potential flood reduction and resiliency projects.

Through the efforts of the Midland Business Alliance (MBA) Advisory Committee on Infrastructure and state legislators, the City of Midland is the beneficiary of $40 million included in the current state budget. There are two funding provisions in the budget that support Midland’s efforts to reduce the severity of flooding and enhance flood resiliency: $25 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, administered by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), and a $15 million enhancement from the state, administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).

Each of these grants has specific requirements around reporting, timelines, and how funds can be used. Due to funding-related deadlines, decisions on future projects need to take place by the end of this year. To help the City of Midland expedite the process, the MBA Advisory Committee’s engineering firm, the Spicer Group, is helping City engineers and staff in the process of evaluating, scoring and modeling potential projects.

At the June 10 meeting, Nick Czerwinski, PE, Spicer Group senior project manager, will provide an overview of the vetting/scoring process and the criteria used when evaluating projects. The Spicer Group is working closely with City engineers and staff to narrow the list of viable and impactful projects.

The MBA Advisory Committee notes that Czerwinski will not be discussing the specifics of any potential projects at this time — only the engineering scoring process being used to narrow the list of projects. In the months ahead, the community and Council members will hear about the types of projects and be able to provide input at that time.

The City Council meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 10, in the Council Chambers (first floor) at the City Hall. The meeting can be watched live on Midland’s government cable channel, MGTV-188. The meeting can also be viewed on-demand at a later time at cityofmidlandmi.gov/video.

Residents can find out more at the City of Midland’s flood resiliency page (cityofmidlandmi.gov/floodresiliency) or at the MBA’s flood study page (mbami.org/FloodStudy).