Disaster Recovery

Harrison County Utility Authority Public Infrastructure

Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi’s leaders worked with the State’s Congressional delegation to obtain over $5B in long-term recovery assistance through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Governor Haley Barbour directed a portion of the recovery assistance to water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure improvements in the Mississippi Gulf Region under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.

Broaddus & Associates was selected by the Harrison County Utility Authority (HCUA) to manage approximately 28 CDBG water and sewer infrastructure projects, including five wastewater treatment facilities, 13 elevated water tanks, 14 water wells, 29 sewer pumping stations, 380,000 LF of water lines, 301,000 LF of force sewer lines and 84,000 LF of gravity sewer lines.

These projects constitute the management of 12 engineering and testing firms and 15 general contractors. The firm’s experience with CDBG projects was essential, as they coordinated with the grant administrator and maintained the project schedule approved by MDEQ. Their expertise was imperative to negotiating resolutions for numerous issues and ensuring the budget and scheduled goals were met for all activities, including constructability reviews, resolution of rezoning and permitting issues, and the ongoing management of the contractor’s efforts to ensure timely completion and close-out of the projects.

Broaddus & Associates also helped reinstitute the Technical Advisory Committee for the HCUA. This committee reviews submittals and communicates their findings to the Board of Directors, who are then able to make educated decisions. As a result, the number of change orders was greatly reduced and a significant amount of federal dollars were saved.