Gladewater welcomes $48K annual agreement with grant consultant

After demurring on the first proffer of service, Gladewater City Council members are now embracing Lone Star Consulting’s Steve Hofmann and crossing their fingers he’ll deliver again with mutually-beneficial federal funding.
After a previous ‘No’ from city leaders, it was Hofmann who led the charge to secure $1.5 million from the Department of Homeland Security via FEMA funding. Those funds are pointed toward the Lake Gladewater Dam, they’re just in a holding pattern during the ongoing partisan tug-of-war in Washington, D.C.
When Hoffman saw that grant window opened, Gladewater Mayor Brandy Flanagan said, “He pretty much pro bono said, ‘Hey, let me prove myself.’ He hopped on it. We got all the letters in that needed to be in from all the elected officials. He got everything on his end that he needed,” she added. “Everybody just went all hands on deck and was really trying to go after this and get it. We were able to secure it.
“It is tied up right now in the only part of the government that is fighting it out at the federal level.”
According to widespread reports, last week’s ouster of embattled Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem may ease the DHS funding deadlock in D.C. and pave the way for Gladewater (and other communities) to receive earmarked funding.
In any case, “There’s no red flags that it is not going to go through,” Flanagan said, and Hofmann’s ready for more: “He’s coming back now… that he has proven himself.
“We can do another round of this for the dam infrastructure,” and other projects are on the table as well, with funding for law enforcement and the fire department possible as well as infrastructure dollars. “One discussion we have quite frequently is we have one water source in our town, and how do we ensure public safety if something were to happen to it?”
Lone Star Consulting is identifying grants that could fund additional water towers as well as tie-ins to other water sources.
“To me, personally, I would definitely want to proceed forward with him. To me, he has more than proved himself.”
The LSC retainer to secure Infrastructure Act funding will cost the city $4,000 monthly. If funding efforts are successful, there will also be a 2.5% ‘Community Engagement’ fee paid if and when grant funds are dispersed.
“As long as the guy produces just as he just did earlier this year, I’ve got no problem paying the guy,” councilman Milton Anderson said. “He did us pretty solid as well.”