Minot and other grant recipient communities in the National Disaster Resilience Program are supporting a three-year extension of the program.

The Minot City Council voted Monday to authorize the mayor to send support letters to North Dakota’s congressional delegation.

Currently, grant recipients must spend their Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds through the NDR program by Sept. 30, 2022. The requested extension is through September 2025.

John Zakian, Minot’s NDR program manager, informed the council that representatives of the 13 grantee communities have held virtual meetings to reach agreement on an extension request because of concern over meeting the 2022 deadline in light of future impact of COVID-19 restrictions. Congressional action is needed to extend the deadline.

In the meantime, the communities will continue to strive to carry out their action plans and utilize the grant money by the 2022 deadline.

Minot is working on projects that include a family homeless shelter, affordable housing, a new city hall, buyouts in the flood zone and a center for technical education.

Other grant recipients are New Orleans, New York City and Shelby County, Tennessee, and the states of California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Louisiana.

– Jill Schramm