President Donald Trump’s now-rescinded freeze on all federal grant funding disbursement has not impacted Brookfield, officials said.
Village Manager Tim Wiberg told trustees at the village board’s Feb. 10 meeting that the executive order, which the President issued Jan. 27 and rescinded Jan. 29, has not affected any of the village’s federal funding.
“As the board is aware, the village makes very heavy use of federal funding and grants. We’re obviously very concerned about what impact that could potentially have on the Village of Brookfield, on our ongoing operations for grants, and so forth,” he said. “As of right now, all we know is that the order is not in effect. None of our grants, none of our funding, none of our programs in place from the state or the federal government should be impacted. So, right now, we’re all good to go, and we will continue to monitor that situation in case that changes again.”
Executive orders are not legally binding in the same way that laws are; these presidential orders instead serve to direct the government to take specific actions.
Brookfield funds several of its improvement projects each year in part through federal funding.
Last year, the village secured about $3.5 million in federal funds to improve the streetscape along Grand Boulevard, Brookfield Avenue, Woodside Avenue, Parkview Avenue and Golf Road.
Brookfield applied for funding to improve Creekside Park through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program, which will award up to $140 million in state and federal grant funding for walking, biking and hiking projects across Illinois this year.
Brookfield was awarded $200,000 for planned street improvements this year on Monroe, Cleveland, Harrison and Blanchan avenues by Cook County through the federally funded Community Development Block Grant program.
