Montgomery City Council members met on Tuesday for the regularly scheduled meeting to discuss and take action on various agenda items. All council members were present for the first meeting of 2018.

Here are three takeaways from the Jan. 9 meeting:

1. City moves forward with identifying projects for state grant
A Community Development Block Grant for disaster relief was recently awarded to Montgomery. The $2.28 million grant is allocated to fund five major projects in the city, said Jeff O’Connell, senior program manager for GrantWorks.

The five projects include road and drainage improvements for Baja Road for Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, an emergency generator for Water Plant 3, rehabilitation of Lift Station 3 and generator for wastewater treatment plant on Stewart Creek. The CDBG application deadline is Feb. 28, O’Connell said.

“It’s really a wonderful thing to have generators so if the power goes out in the city during a hurricane or storm event, it keeps everything moving along—whether it’s with the fire station, police station, the wastewater treatment plant, water plant, it’s a really important thing to have," O’Connell said.

City Engineer Chris Roznovsky said there is currently no timeline estimate for the projects, but that improvements to Baja Road and an emergency generator for Water Plant 3 are priorities.

2. Buffalo Springs Drive bridge repair
The bridge on Buffalo Springs Drive was severely damaged by flooding in spring 2016. Since then, city officials have been working with FEMA to receive partial funding for repairs to the bridge. Demolition on the bridge will begin Monday, Jan. 15 and must be completed in the six months per the project contract, Roznovsky said.

3. Election services and joint election agreements approved for May 5 primary elections
The filing period for the city of Montgomery elections begins Jan. 17 and ends Feb. 16. According to the city website, two council member terms expire in May: John Champagne and Rebecca Huss.