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Thompson, City of Santa Rosa Announce Two Federal Grant Awards

December 3, 2019

Funding to help city continue with fire recovery and resiliency efforts

Washington – Today Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) and the City of Santa Rosa announced that the city has been awarded two Federal grants to provide the city with more than $3.3 million to replace 19 stationary generators at water and wastewater facilities and more than $1 million to install backup battery systems for traffic signal controllers at 175 locations. These projects will shore up the city's ability to respond and function in case of an emergency or loss of power. Funding was awarded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

"As our district continues to rebuild after the October 2017 fires, it's critical we continue working together to ensure we are better able to withstand future disasters. That's why I am pleased to announce these grant awards of more than $4.4 million from the Federal government that will help the city rebuild and fortify our existing infrastructure," said Thompson. "These projects will help our community be both more resilient to disaster and better able to respond in case of power shutoffs, like those we experienced this Fall. Know that I am fighting to bring back every Federal dollar and resource to bear on our recovery efforts and will continue to work with city, county and state officials to ensure our district comes back even stronger."

"The reliability of our infrastructure during an emergency is paramount for both the health and safety of our community," said Santa Rosa Mayor Tom Schwedhelm. "This is a critical investment of grant funds from FEMA that will improve the resiliency of our city's water system by upgrading back-up power, resulting in improved system redundancy for supplying water for drinking and firefighting during an emergency. Additionally, the investment will enable the city to prolong the operability of our traffic signals during a power outage creating a safer and more expedited process for evacuating residents should disaster strike while the power is out. We extend our sincere appreciation to FEMA for recognizing the importance of these projects, and to Rep. Thompson for his tireless work to advocate for the needs of our community."

Santa Rosa was awarded $3.36 million through FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to help fund a $4.49 million project to replace 3 existing diesel generators and 16 existing propane/natural gas generators with more reliable generators at 19 critical water and wastewater facilities across the city. This will help ensure water and wastewater continuity during emergencies and loss of power incidents. Santa Rosa was also awarded $1.06 million to fund a $1.41 million project to install backup battery systems at existing traffic controller cabinets at 175 locations across the city. This will allow those signals to operate for an additional 4 hours after loss of power, increasing evacuation rates in case of fires and other emergencies. This grant was also awarded through FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

Congressman Mike Thompson is proud to represent California's 5th Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma Counties. He is a senior member of the House Committee on Ways and Means where he chairs the Subcommittee on Tax Policy. Rep. Thompson is Chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. He is also Co-Chair of the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Wine Caucus and a member of the fiscally-conservative Blue Dog Coalition.