Okla. Admin. Code § 785:50-15-3

Current through Vol. 42, No. 4, November 1, 2024

Section 785:50-15-3 - Application review and disposition

(a)General procedures. The general procedure to be followed in the financial assistance application, review, and consideration process for financial assistance under the ARPA grant program shall be as follows:

(1)Pre-application conference.

(A) While not specifically required, all potential applicants are encouraged to initially contact the Board for purposes of making arrangements for participating in a pre-application conference between Board staff, applicant (or representative), applicant's legal, financial, and engineering advisors and such other persons whose attendance and participation may be deemed appropriate and beneficial.

(B) At the pre-application conference, preliminary matters respecting the applicant, the proposed project and the application for assistance may be generally discussed in an effort to familiarize all concerned parties with the financial assistance program and applicable application requirements and procedures.

(2)Application.

(A) Applicant shall initiate application review and consideration by submission to the Board of applicant's application for financial assistance. An application may be submitted directly by the qualified entity or, at the qualified entity's discretion an authorized representative of the qualified entity.

(B) In all instances, applications must be in a form which meets the requirements of the Board.

(C) All applicants must have the verification form signed and notarized by the applicant representative and must have a signature of an attorney representing applicant.

(3)Submittal to Board. Upon completion of staff review, the submitted application (with staff recommendations, if any) shall be placed upon the Board's agenda for the next regular (or special) Board meeting and shall be thereby submitted to the Board for action as described in (e) below.

(b)General approval standards and criteria. In the review and consideration of applications for financial assistance under the ARPA grant program, the Board shall follow the priority point system set forth in 785:50-15-5. The Board shall also give consideration to the following general and non-exclusive criteria for application approval:

(1)Compliance with laws. The application and proposed project must be found to be in compliance with all applicable and relevant federal, state, and local laws and regulations, and applicant must possess all necessary and incidental legal rights and privileges necessary to project commencement and operation.

(2)Eligibility. The applicant must be qualified, and the proposed project must be for a qualified purpose as defined in 785:50-15-2.

(3)Local need, support, and priority. The project must be found to be needed in the area to be served and must be found to be sufficient, as proposed, to serve such needs. The Board shall additionally consider the project's relative benefit and priority in relation to the needs of other proposed projects and applicants.

(4)Economic feasibility. The Board shall consider the overall apparent economic viability and feasibility of the project.

(5)Project feasibility. The Board shall consider from the engineering data submitted and otherwise available whether the proposed project appears to be feasible and must determine as a prerequisite to application approval and funding that the project is cost effective.

(6)Statewide needs and public interest. The Board shall give consideration to the relationship between the proposed project and the overall water resource development needs within the State of Oklahoma as well as to whether the proposed project, if constructed, will serve the public interest and welfare.

(7)ARPA grant amount, availability of funds. In sizing an ARPA grant, the Board shall take into consideration the current and anticipated availability of ARPA program funds.

(8)Conservation measures. The Board shall consider whether the applicant has taken all reasonable measures to limit waste and conserve water.

(c)Criteria applicability.

(1) The general criteria set forth in (b) and (d) of this Section are intended to constitute and shall constitute general guidelines and standards for application review and consideration by the Board. Such criteria shall not be deemed exclusive. In all instances, each individual application and project must be reviewed and considered on its own individual merits.

(2) The criteria and standards set forth in (b) and (d) of this Section shall accordingly be interpreted and applied so as to allow sufficient flexibility in the ultimate exercise of Board's judgment and discretion.

(d)Criteria for denying an application. The Board may deny an application for an ARPA grant for any of the following reasons:

(1) The applicant or the entity which stands to receive the benefit of the grant assistance is not an eligible entity.

(2) Failure to complete the application and provide the required documentation.

(3) Any other reason based upon applicable law or the Board's judgment and discretion.

(e)Board action.

(1) After reviewing and considering the submitted application, the Board may proceed to take one of the following alternative forms of Board action on the application:

(A) The Board may approve and grant the application as submitted, in whole or in part, and thereby authorize such further action as may be necessary to effectuate the disbursement of funds.

(B) The Board may retain the application under advisement for further consideration or continue hearing on same for later ruling and disposition, and the Board may withhold ruling on the application pending further hearing and/or submission to the Board of such further or additional information as the Board may require for application consideration purposes.

(C) The Board may reject and deny the application, in whole or in part, based upon any criteria described in (d) of this Section which may be applicable.

(D) The Board may approve and grant the application, in whole or in part, such approval being conditioned and contingent upon the existence of adequate and available grant funds or conditioned and contingent upon receipt and approval by Board staff of any outstanding and necessary material, information, documents, verifications or other authorization.

(2) Upon approval of an application, the Board may authorize the execution of all necessary grant documents and instruments by the Chairman of the Board, or other designated Board member, and may accordingly authorize and provide for disbursements of funds and may authorize such further or additional action as may be necessary to complete and implement the approved transaction.

Okla. Admin. Code § 785:50-15-3

Adopted by Oklahoma Register, Volume 40, Issue 3, October 17, 2022, eff. 9/14/2022

Adopted by Oklahoma Register, Volume 40, Issue 22, August 1, 2023, eff. 8/11/2023