City Hall: Putting state, federal, private dollars to work for jail inmates, roads

Staff from the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department will begin helping county jail inmates apply for Medicaid before they're released.

Doing so is required by state law, part of a provision of LB921 the Legislature passed in 2022.

Last week, the City Council approved an interlocal agreement with the state, which will reimburse the county for some of the costs with both federal and state dollars.

The state began providing services to Department of Corrections inmates a year ago.

The Health Department has had staff trained to provide the services and was waiting for the contract with the state to be completed, said Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department Director Pat Lopez.

It will be one of three counties, along with Douglas and Sarpy, that offer those services, according to State Department of Health and Human Services officials.

And Lopez is eager to get it started here.

"The intention is really to ensure continuity of care," she said.

The county is responsible for caring for people when they are incarcerated, so they are provided medication for both physical and mental health needs. When they're released, they often have nothing.

For people with mental health issues, especially, having that care disappear when they're released means the arrest and incarceration cycle is more likely to continue.

"Now it's just like a continuous circle," Lopez said. "They come in, are treated and taken care of, then they're released and it starts all over again."

By helping them apply for Medicaid before they're released, staff can now connect people with mental health services in the community, and hopefully it will help reduce costs for the county, Lopez said.

Federal dollars and county roads

Sixty-five million dollars.

That's a big number with big implications for Lancaster County's roads.

That's how much money will go into road improvements over the next five years, County Engineer Pam Dingman said recently during a presentation on her one- and six-year road and bridge construction program.

The bulk of those dollars comes from the federal government, including some as a result of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that authorized $1.2 trillion in transportation and infrastructure spending when it was signed into law in 2021.

But most of the money is the product of years of work, Dingman said, and involves federal funds funneled through the state and the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which creates long-term city and county transportation plans for federal and state money.

To put those dollars in perspective: Without federal aid, Dingman said, the county was spending about $1 million from local property tax dollars on roads every other year.

It takes years to leverage federal dollars, and when Dingman became the Lancaster County Engineer in 2013, Lancaster County had no federal projects.

"The money is very competitive," she said. "They take lots of planning and preparation."

In a few weeks, Dingman's first federal aid project will be done: Paving 98th Street from O Street to A Street. On that and another upcoming project to pave 98th Street from A Street to Old Cheney Road, the county is splitting the local cost with the city — a first for the two subdivisions.

Most projects require either 20% or 10% local funding, and the county now sets aside money in a separate account so local matches will be available when the federal dollars come through, Dingman said.

Federal dollars from the bipartisan infrastructure bill will help pay for a couple of studies: one to make Lancaster County roads safer and another to study the county's bridges to get a flood-mitigation plan in place.

Other federal aid projects include the long-anticipated improvements on Saltillo Road from 27th to 68th streets, which have been in the planning stages for about eight years.

The delay was, in part, because the state asked the county to put the work on hold until the South Beltway opened, Dingman said. It began as a $5 million project but will likely cost $14 million-$15 million now. Federal dollars will pay 90%.

Other projects include intersection improvements at 148th and Holdrege streets; South 68th Street between Firth and Stagecoach roads and between Hickman and Roca roads; Fletcher Avenue from 84th to 148th streets; Northwest 56th Street from I-80 to West Holdrege Street; and North 14th Street from Alvo to Ashland roads.

The federal infrastructure law has made lots of federal money available but also made it even more competitive, and the state recently created a grant "hub" to provide assistance to smaller counties that don't have the expertise or staff available to apply for federal grants.

Not having that expertise can put small counties at a huge disadvantage, Dingman said, and while it's not as necessary for larger counties such as Lancaster, Dingman won't pass up any help.

"They're super complex," she said of the federal transportation grants. "If you miss a nuance, they throw out the package."

Keeping up

"Once you get to the point you're counting potholes, you've lost the battle," — Dingman, during the same presentation on her one- and six-year roads plan, talking about the importance of road maintenance.

Haymarket park boost

Skateboarding enthusiasts gave fundraising efforts for South Haymarket Park — a priority project for Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird — a $10,000 boost.

The Lincoln Skatepark Association donated the money to the Lincoln Parks Foundation to help fund the skatepark, which is a major feature of the park that city officials plan to build near Seventh and N streets.

Phil Burcher, Lincoln Skatepark Association president, said $8,000 was raised at the "LSA Big Deal" event July 13 co-hosted by the Hub Café at Union Plaza. The association added in an additional $2,000.

The park is expected to cost $25 million, a combination of public and private resources. When the city and developers abandoned plans to build a $47.5 million mixed-use building to anchor the park and instead expanded plans for the park itself, officials said they'd raised $9 million, including $4.4 million in city funds and a $2.1 million federal stimulus grant from the state.

The state-of-the-art, in-ground skatepark will be built on the northern end of the park. Designed by Spohn Ranch Skateparks of Los Angeles, California, it will be Nebraska's largest skateboarding facility.

The park also will feature a hearth, community building, dog park and expanded playground.

The city plans to break ground on the 8.5-acre park next year and open it in spring 2026.

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Local government reporter