FEMA process updates provided for Faunt Le Roy Park and library

In a Gatesville City Council meeting held Tuesday, April 8, updates on FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) processes for Faunt Le Roy Park and Gatesville Public Library rehabilitation projects were discussed, and on-site visits of both locations were conducted.

Since September of 2024, when the council received their last update, the city has continued working with FEMA and the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to obtain approvals for repairs regarding the weather-related damages to city facilities from April to June of 2024.

The city is with its fourth grant contractor from Langford Community Management and continues to meet all deadlines and requirements for its application for federal funds to recover losses. Although the city is on track, it will seek extensions due to the delays associated with project manager changes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and online portal access.

FEMA has conducted on-site inspections on three separate occasions from October of 2024 to March of this year. The visits included taking a deeper look into the 17 known loss areas from the spring 2024 weather events, which resulted in over 90 subsets of damages being identified.

While working with FEMA, City Manager Brad Hunt, Deputy City Manager Mike Halsema, and city staff have worked with the council members to provide funding through budget adjustments as well as CLFRF (Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Funds) and ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to implement rehabilitation projects for Faunt Le Roy Park and the Gatesville Public Library.

Rehabilitation projects are listed below:

Faunt Le Roy Park

• Clean-up and electrical work along walking trail portion, completed by July 2024.
• In the lower portion of the park, fencing has been added, trees and limbs have been trimmed, and electrical work is nearly complete.
• Estimated to reopen lower portion in next few days.

Gatesville Public Library

• The G2 construction project for mold remediation, roof repair, and building rehabilitation is complete.
• The city is undertaking the final steps towards reopening which includes testing, assessment, and completion of HVAC system by Muegge Air, the reconstruction of masonry work around the exterior HVAC units and assembling shelves and re-stocking books, landscaping, final punch list of minor interior items, reorganizing materials, and taking inventory of all cataloged materials.

All rehabilitation projects are set to be completed by September of this year.

During the on-site visit to Faunt Le Roy Park, Parks and Recreation Director Seth Phillips said that once the lower portion of the park becomes available to the public, there will be a walkthrough entrance where locals will be able to enter the park but will need to stay on the inside of a secured fence which lines the inside perimeter of the park.

This will keep children off the riverbank and people from driving on the old walking trail, which will no longer be in use.

“All the lights will be working before we reopen,” Phillips said. “Lighting will still work, and there is still going to be power to the pavilion and to the restrooms.”

“There are so many opportunities that are still down here, and understand that the council made a decision about a year and a half ago saying that we want Faunt Le Roy to remain open before the flood,” Hunt said. “We are definitely operating on that path that this is going to be a viable park and everything we can do to keep it viable, we are going to do.”