Welcome to "The Pine Needler," your go-to source for all things happening in the Central Pines Region! We're here to keep you in the loop with our bi-monthly updates on upcoming events and regional news. Stay connected with us as we bring you the latest happenings and stories that will surely make your day pine-tastic! | |
- ARPA Obligation Deadline - Dec. 31
- Essentials of County Government Course
- Helene-Related Hazard Mitigation Funds
- Environment & Resilience Subcommittee Interest Meetings
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- Popular Links & Resources
- Career Opportunities
- Upcoming Events
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ARPA Obligation Deadline - Dec. 31
This is a friendly reminder that ARPA obligations are due on December 31, 2024. If you have not spent or obligated all of your funds or have questions about this process, please reach out to Tara Nattress promptly at tnattress@centralpinesnc.gov.
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What is an obligation? An obligation is:
1. An order placed for property and services and entry into contracts, subawards, and similar transactions that require payment, which may include:
- An order placed for property or services
- Contract
- Subaward
- Similar transactions that require payment, which may include: 1) Certain interagency agreements (including MOUs) (see FAQ 17.6), 2) Under certain circumstances, payroll expenses for recipients’ employees (see FAQ 17.7)
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2. A requirement under federal law or regulation or a provision of the SLFRF award terms and conditions to which the recipient becomes subject as a result of receiving or expending SLFRF funds.
An obligation is NOT:
- An adopted budget or budget amendment
- An appropriation of SLFRF funds
- An executive order
- A resolution
- A written or oral intention to enter into a contract
- A grant of legal authority to enter into a contract
- Claiming funds under the revenue loss category
- Moving SLFRF funds to a general fund as revenue loss but not further establishing an obligation with those funds by 12/31/24
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Popular Links & Resources | Happy Holidays from all of us at Central Pines Regional Council! The Central Pines Regional Council Office will be closed for the holidays December 24-26, 2024 and January 1, 2025. | | |
Helene-Related Hazard Mitigation Funds Coming Soon
The NC Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) has received extra hazard mitigation funding from the federal government due to the impacts of Tropical Storm Helene. This funding is available across the state, so all counties should think about applying.
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The State is prioritizing 4 types of projects, two of which are focused on local governments and two of which are focused on homeowners:
- Infrastructure projects (local governments)
- Landslide mitigation (local governments)
- Property acquisition (homeowners)
- Home elevations (homeowners)
| For infrastructure projects, the guidelines will be similar to a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure in Communities (BRIC) grant application. These projects can be broad but should reduce the impacts of natural hazards on public infrastructure. They can be either a construction or planning project, but should connect back to your local hazard mitigation plan. For example, a town in CPRC’s region recently won a BRIC grant to relocate a pumping station that was in the floodway. | |
To submit these projects for funding, you will first submit a Letter of Intent to NCDPS. The instructions for that can be found on NCDPS's website HERE. These Letters of Intent are due on December 20 and projects have a cap of $50 million. | Homeowners whose property is in an area that frequently floods can apply directly to NCDPS if they are interested in either property acquisition or home elevation. To do so, they will fill out the form HERE. The State will collect these applications and share them with the counties to make the final decision on which applications to officially submit for funding. Currently, there is no deadline for this opportunity. | For landslide mitigation projects they are looking for proposals for multi-site mitigation projects with pre-engineered solutions and a cost estimate. More information will be forthcoming for these projects. | If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to CPRC staff or watch the NCDPS video: | | | |
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January 16-17 | New Bern
January 23-24 | Winston Salem
February 19-20 | Asheville
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Essentials of County Government Course for Elected Officials
The UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners have partnered to offer a course on the essentials of county government. In this course, we will introduce newly-elected commissioners to the essential functions of county government and the governing board's role. In short, we are here to help county commissioners successfully transition from campaigning to governing.
| Who should attend the course: We encourage your newly elected officials to attend with their county manager and/or county attorney. Counties with strong clerk relationships would also benefit from attending together. | | |
RFP Highlight: Community-Based & Nonprofit Organizations FY26 Pilot | CPRC requests application proposals for fiscal year 2026 (FY26) under its Community-Based and Nonprofit Organizations Pilot program. This pilot program is an initiative within CPRC’s transportation demand management (TDM) grant program named Triangle Transportation Choices. This Community-Based and Nonprofit Organizations Pilot requests applications from North Carolina-based grassroots-level nonprofits/community-based organizations working with low-income, underserved, marginalized, and/or minority communities to promote safe and affordable access of their communities to alternative commute options in the grant-eligible geographic areas. | |  |
Environment & Resilience Subcommittee Interest Meetings | You are invited to one of two online informational sessions to discuss Central Pines Regional Council’s Environment & Resilience Subcommittee. This subcommittee is a newly forming group that will advise CPRC on the services that we provide in the Environment & Resilience Focus Area. We seek participation from elected officials, individuals with a wide variety of perspectives, non-profit leaders, and business leaders who have an interest in serving on this Subcommittee. On January 16th and February 6th from 12:30PM to 1:30PM we will have two separate repeat online opportunities to talk with CPRC staff and CPRC Board leadership about this opportunity. Initial thoughts are that this group would meet once a quarter. Start the new year out with a new endeavor and lend your perspective to CPRC and our regional Environment & Resilience work! | | | |
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Career Opportunities in the Region | There are so many amazing career opportunities to serve your community and work for local government in the Central Pines Region. Check out the most recent job postings here! | | |
Learning Opportunities & Events | |
| Event | When & Where | Details | | Christmas Holiday | December 24-26, 2024 | CPRC Offices Closed | | New Year Day Holiday | January 1, 2025 | CPRC Offices Closed | | Environment & Resilience Subcommittee Interest Meeting | Thursday, January 15, 2025
12:30 - 1:30 pm
Virtual | Register HERE | | CPRC Board of Delegates Meeting | Wednesday, January 22, 2025
6:00 - 8:00 om
CPRC Office | Durham | See full Board Meeting Schedule HERE | | | |
Be sure to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @centralpinesnc! |
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