LOYALTON RESIDENTS:
This is a complete list of events Loyalton Vice Mayor Joy Markum and Eastern Plumas Health Care CEO Doug McCoy have been working on to get the $2 million Federal Appropriations in order to repair the “Van Daam’” water line.
In addition to the work included in the timeline, there have been approximately 50 additional phone calls they have had regarding this process.
Hopefully the timeline assists community members in understanding the complexities of this process and the work being done on their behalf by the Loyalton City Council.
The Council members stated, “Our hands are tied by regulations!”
Water Project EPA Timeline
• 3/31/2024 - 2024/25 Federal Appropriations bill to include the $2m for the Loyalton water project funding signed into law by President Biden.
• 3/31/24-4/25/24 – Calls and emails submitted to Kiley’s office to find out next steps required to access approved funds.
• 4/26/24 – EPA sends notification that they will be overseeing the grant process and will be providing training on 6/4/24 for the administrative portion of the process and 6/12/24 for the program portion.
• 6/4/24 – Attended the EPA administrative training. Completed 5 hours of required additional modules on 6/5/24
• 6/10/24 – Unable to access the Grants.gov access page to begin packet submission. Contacted the EPA regional office via email and phone for assistance without resolution.
• 6/12/24 – Attended the EPA programming training. Completed 3 hours of required additional modules.
• 6/13/24 – Continue to be unable to access the Grants.gov site for the Loyalton grant package. Emailed and spoke to an EPA national representative who was also not able to assist.
• 6/13/24 – Joy and I switched admin access from Dori to Joy on Grants.gov site.
• 6/17/24 – We received a checklist from EPA project manager but continue to have issues with the Grants.gov site.
• 6/21/24 – Joy and I had a virtual meeting with EPA project manager. We continue to be unable to access the Grants.gov package. EPA
PM to investigate. Email sent by EPA on access issues on 6/25/24 to the Grants.gov support team.
• 6/26/24 – Role assignment corrected in Grants.gov by Doug/Joy to access the system.
• 6/27/24-7/20/24 – Submitted the grant packet 7-8 times but the system would not save or transmit the data. Each submission required rewriting the entire packet each time.
• 7/31/24 – CATEX, Categorical Exclusion form, environmental form submitted to EPA.
• 8/20/24 – Joy sends message to Kiley’s office regarding lack of response from EPA.
• 8/29/24 – Received confirmation that Grants.gov submission was accepted – 12th time being submitted.
• 9/4/24 – EPA additional information requests received. Joy and I provided the information back same day.
• 9/10/24 – Application reviewed by California State University – Sacramento staff who consult with the EPA. Offered to provide assistance with the application.
• 9/12/24 – EPA additional information request received. Provided information back same day.
• 9/18/24 – Joy/Doug reviewed submitted work plan with CSUS rep. CSUS rep requested that we make revisions and also submit cost share waiver.
• 9/19/24 – Cost share waiver written and submitted to CSUS rep for review. Waiver also submitted to EPA
• 10/3/24 – CSUS rep indicates that our application is missing a work plan which was never included in the application packet materials. Joy/Doug reviewed the requirements of the work plan with CSUS rep.
• 10/7/24 – Work plan completed and sent to both CSUS and EPA. CSUS stated we would hear back in 1-2 weeks.
• 10/16/24 – Received recommendations from CSUS on work plan and sent revisions to CSUS and EPA same day.
• 10/24/24 – Notified that submitted work plan and changes sent through Grants.gov cannot be revised on that site and to send directly to EPA (which was already done on 10/16).
• 10/25/24 – EPA PM stated she would send updated attachments directly.
• 10/30/24 – Notified by EPA manager that our PM would be out until 11/5 – she was supposed to submit the draft 106 section letter on our behalf.
• 11/12/24 – Sent email requesting the status of the section 106 letter.
• 11/16/24 – Joy sent an email to the EPA manager asking for a status update.
• 11/17/24 – EPA manager sent an email reply that she and the PM were at a conference and would get back to us in a few days.
• 11/22/24 – Call with EPA to receive update on application. Received information and forms to request pre-award costs and instructions on generating the State Historic Preservation Office letter.
• 12/20/24 – Cost share waiver approved.
• 1/7/25 – State Historic Preservation Office letter submitted. Our submission was delayed due to lack of additional action required by the EPA.
• 1/7/25 – Requested invoices from Dowl from 10/2023 to current.
• 1/15/25 – Received invoices from Dowl.
• 1/16/25 – Sent pre-award cost reimbursement request to EPA
• 1/17/25 – Reviewed pre-award cost letter submitted on call with EPA PM. Told by EPA PM that all materials have been submitted, and package and pre-award cost request is with EPA management.
• 2/4/25 – Received notice from California Historical Society that additional information is needed from the SHPO letter. Sent EPA PM an email to request clarification.
• 2/5/25 – Received email from EPA PM stating ‘We’ve been informed by EPA management that, pending further guidance, we are unable to communicate with community grant recipients. Please accept our regrets. I will be in touch when I have updated instructions.’
•Next EPA call scheduled for 2/27/25.
We have not received confirmation that the EPA will attend the call based on the 2/5/25 email.
This is a complete list of events Loyalton Vice Mayor Joy Markum and Eastern Plumas Health Care CEO Doug McCoy have been working on to get the $2 million Federal Appropriations in order to repair the “Van Daam’” water line.
In addition to the work included in the timeline, there have been approximately 50 additional phone calls they have had regarding this process.
Hopefully the timeline assists community members in understanding the complexities of this process and the work being done on their behalf by the Loyalton City Council.
The Council members stated, “Our hands are tied by regulations!”
Water Project EPA Timeline
• 3/31/2024 - 2024/25 Federal Appropriations bill to include the $2m for the Loyalton water project funding signed into law by President Biden.
• 3/31/24-4/25/24 – Calls and emails submitted to Kiley’s office to find out next steps required to access approved funds.
• 4/26/24 – EPA sends notification that they will be overseeing the grant process and will be providing training on 6/4/24 for the administrative portion of the process and 6/12/24 for the program portion.
• 6/4/24 – Attended the EPA administrative training. Completed 5 hours of required additional modules on 6/5/24
• 6/10/24 – Unable to access the Grants.gov access page to begin packet submission. Contacted the EPA regional office via email and phone for assistance without resolution.
• 6/12/24 – Attended the EPA programming training. Completed 3 hours of required additional modules.
• 6/13/24 – Continue to be unable to access the Grants.gov site for the Loyalton grant package. Emailed and spoke to an EPA national representative who was also not able to assist.
• 6/13/24 – Joy and I switched admin access from Dori to Joy on Grants.gov site.
• 6/17/24 – We received a checklist from EPA project manager but continue to have issues with the Grants.gov site.
• 6/21/24 – Joy and I had a virtual meeting with EPA project manager. We continue to be unable to access the Grants.gov package. EPA
PM to investigate. Email sent by EPA on access issues on 6/25/24 to the Grants.gov support team.
• 6/26/24 – Role assignment corrected in Grants.gov by Doug/Joy to access the system.
• 6/27/24-7/20/24 – Submitted the grant packet 7-8 times but the system would not save or transmit the data. Each submission required rewriting the entire packet each time.
• 7/31/24 – CATEX, Categorical Exclusion form, environmental form submitted to EPA.
• 8/20/24 – Joy sends message to Kiley’s office regarding lack of response from EPA.
• 8/29/24 – Received confirmation that Grants.gov submission was accepted – 12th time being submitted.
• 9/4/24 – EPA additional information requests received. Joy and I provided the information back same day.
• 9/10/24 – Application reviewed by California State University – Sacramento staff who consult with the EPA. Offered to provide assistance with the application.
• 9/12/24 – EPA additional information request received. Provided information back same day.
• 9/18/24 – Joy/Doug reviewed submitted work plan with CSUS rep. CSUS rep requested that we make revisions and also submit cost share waiver.
• 9/19/24 – Cost share waiver written and submitted to CSUS rep for review. Waiver also submitted to EPA
• 10/3/24 – CSUS rep indicates that our application is missing a work plan which was never included in the application packet materials. Joy/Doug reviewed the requirements of the work plan with CSUS rep.
• 10/7/24 – Work plan completed and sent to both CSUS and EPA. CSUS stated we would hear back in 1-2 weeks.
• 10/16/24 – Received recommendations from CSUS on work plan and sent revisions to CSUS and EPA same day.
• 10/24/24 – Notified that submitted work plan and changes sent through Grants.gov cannot be revised on that site and to send directly to EPA (which was already done on 10/16).
• 10/25/24 – EPA PM stated she would send updated attachments directly.
• 10/30/24 – Notified by EPA manager that our PM would be out until 11/5 – she was supposed to submit the draft 106 section letter on our behalf.
• 11/12/24 – Sent email requesting the status of the section 106 letter.
• 11/16/24 – Joy sent an email to the EPA manager asking for a status update.
• 11/17/24 – EPA manager sent an email reply that she and the PM were at a conference and would get back to us in a few days.
• 11/22/24 – Call with EPA to receive update on application. Received information and forms to request pre-award costs and instructions on generating the State Historic Preservation Office letter.
• 12/20/24 – Cost share waiver approved.
• 1/7/25 – State Historic Preservation Office letter submitted. Our submission was delayed due to lack of additional action required by the EPA.
• 1/7/25 – Requested invoices from Dowl from 10/2023 to current.
• 1/15/25 – Received invoices from Dowl.
• 1/16/25 – Sent pre-award cost reimbursement request to EPA
• 1/17/25 – Reviewed pre-award cost letter submitted on call with EPA PM. Told by EPA PM that all materials have been submitted, and package and pre-award cost request is with EPA management.
• 2/4/25 – Received notice from California Historical Society that additional information is needed from the SHPO letter. Sent EPA PM an email to request clarification.
• 2/5/25 – Received email from EPA PM stating ‘We’ve been informed by EPA management that, pending further guidance, we are unable to communicate with community grant recipients. Please accept our regrets. I will be in touch when I have updated instructions.’
•Next EPA call scheduled for 2/27/25.
We have not received confirmation that the EPA will attend the call based on the 2/5/25 email.
