Pledge to halt grants worries Port officials

President Donald Trump’s “temporary pause” on federal grants may have lasted a short time, but it has City of Port Washington officials concerned.

The city is depending on millions of dollars in grants to pay for major projects this year, from refurbishing its lighthouse to renovating the Niederkorn Library to completing engineering and design work for improvements to the Valley Creek corridor.

“To lose these grants would be devastating to us,” Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said. “It would be a huge loss to the city.”

On Tuesday, Jan. 28, the day that Trump’s “pause” on grants was announced, City Engineer Roger Strohm said he was surprised to receive a note from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notifying the city its $915,000 grant for the Valley Creek project was frozen.

Although the freeze has been lifted for now, he said, “I’m a little nervous.”

“We haven’t heard anything directly saying these are at risk, but we’re intelligent people who realize (it’s possible).”

Vanden Noven said, “All of these projects are very important to the City of Port Washington. They involve everything from improving services at the library to preserving the lighthouse, which is the city’s icon — essentially care for what was once a federal structure. We need that federal assistance to preserve it.”

All three projects have received grants funded by the federal government, Vanden Noven said, but the Valley Creek project seems to be the most at risk.

While the Valley Creek project is being funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the library and lighthouse grants are from state agencies — the library’s $1.1 million grant is from the Department of Administration and the $2.2 million lighthouse grant is from the Department of Transportation.

Vanden Noven said he believes the state has already received the funds to pay for these grants — something he plans to check on in the coming days.

The Valley Creek restoration plan will use nature-based solutions to prevent degradation, protect critical infrastructure, reduce flooding risk and restore local habitats and is important to “make the creek sustainable and flood resistant,” Vanden Noven said.

The city has not looked at how it would fund these projects without the grants it has received, he said.

“It would be difficult to make up those funds with the restraints we face,” he said.

Ozaukee County Administrator Jason Dzwinel said he had no comment on the potential impact a freeze on grants could have on the county, but the issue is on the agenda for the Natural Resources Committee to discuss on Thursday, Feb. 6.