City chooses grantwriter for senior citizen expansion

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The Sulphur Springs city council chose a grant writer to pursue funding to expand the senior citizen center, among other items of business at the regular Dec. 7 council session.

The council unanimously affirmed grant writing firm KSBR to prepare application materials on behalf of the city of Sulphur Springs for a $1.5 million grant from the Community Resiliency Program to be put towards the construction of the Sulphur Springs Senior Citizen Center . Mayor John Sellers recused himself prior to discussion due to the degree of consanguinity outlined by Texas Municipal Law 573.041.

According to city manager Marc Maxwell, the city has had difficulty completing plans for the Senior Citizen Center. The city intended the building to be made of a pre-engineered metal frame for the cost of $1.5 million. However, construction was put on hold in September 2021 due to the rising global cost of steel. 

In December, Maxwell reported the city toyed with the idea of constructing the building’s framing of wood to lower construction costs. However, with their sights still set on steel, the city decided to seek a grant, and found the Community Resiliency Program, Maxwell said. 

The Community Resiliency Program requires cities to work with a grant writer. After contacting four grant writers and receiving three bids, a committee formed of Maxwell, mayor pro tempore Doug Moore, Smith and community development director Tory Niewiadomski chose firm KSBR. KSBR’s fees will be paid from the grant at a rate of 13%, for a total of $195,000.

Council member Jay Julian summarized that $1.5 million was previously raised for the senior center during a 2020 bond election, and asked how additional grant monies would be combined with existing funds.

Maxwell stated that if the city was awarded the grant, a total of $3 million would be available to spend on the senior citizen center. Therefore, Maxwell said, the city would plan to expand the physical space of the senior center by approximately 30%. 

“The building we want, furnished the way we want, designed the way we want… is a three million dollar project?” Julian asked. Maxwell answered yes, provided construction costs remain stable. 

Niewiadomski noted that original construction plans had the space at approximately 8,300 feet, but with a grant, the city would be able to push the center to 11,000 square feet. 

“That was what we were wanting from the outset,” Niewiadomski said. 

Julian stated he believed 13% commission for KSBR was too high a rate. City finance director Lesa Smith informed the council that the other two firms proposed 5% and 12% commissions, respectively. 

Moore stated his criteria for choosing KSBR was that “they had a lot of experience with this particular agency [Community Resiliency Program]… we thought our chances of getting it [the grant] were better with them.” 

Julian said he viewed 13% “tremendously above average, outrageously above average,” and wanted to know if choosing KSBR would take any workload off of the city in preparing grant materials. 

“For that amount of money, I’d expect it to be pretty light on us,” Julian urged. 

Moore and Maxwell assured him that KSBR would handle the majority of the work associated with preparing the Community Resiliency Program grant. 

With no further discussion, KSPR was approved.

By Taylor Nye. Abbi Beggs contributed to this report.

A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the percentage commission of one of the other bids, and has been updated.

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