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The City of Three Forks is continuing work to update its Capital Improvements Plan (CIP).
At a Council meeting earlier this month, Jerry Grebenc with Great West Engineering discussed the CIP, which he said is essentially a prioritized list of infrastructure projects with a schedule for those projects and how they will get paid.
Grebenc told the Council the CIP is critical for budgeting.
“For a community like Three Forks, with all the projects you have going on, whether it is water, sewer, street, flood mitigation, or trails, having an updated CIP should help the City Council make wise budget decisions,” he said.
Another reason Grebenc told the Council the CIP was important is funding agencies want to see the municipality undertaking planning, whether it be the recent update of the City of Three Forks Growth Policy or a CIP.
Grebenc said there are six steps in the update of a CIP, and the first step the city has completed was an inventory and evaluation of all infrastructure, facilities, and equipment.
The City of Three Forks has also completed a community survey about the update of the CIP. Grebenc said the city received a total of 80 responses, which was not stellar, but also not atypical because it is hard to get guidance for residents unless they are really excited or angry about something.
Grebenc said residents identified water and sewer as the best improvements the city has done in the last five to 10 years, adding critical things residents want the city to focus on are streets, water, addressing growth issues, and emergency services.
As a next step in the process, Grebenc said they are asking every City of Three Forks department to give them a priority list of projects.
“We need to know what every one of the departments has as a priority so we can take that back to you as a Council and ultimately let you make the decision on what the ultimate priority list is,” Grebenc said.
Once there is a priority list for the City, Grebenc informed the Council it is important to identify how they will pay for them, whether it is general funds, grants, or a special improvement district.
Grebenc said a final process is that, hopefully, the governing body would adopt the CIP and use it for the budgeting process.
