NR 47.952 HistoryHistory: CR 08-062: cr. Register May 2009 No. 641, eff. 6-1-09; correction in (2) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register May 2010 No. 653. NR 47.953NR 47.953 Eligibility. Applicant eligibility is determined by the following: NR 47.953(1)(1) A catastrophic storm event has occurred for which the governor has declared a state of emergency. NR 47.953(2)(2) The applicant is applying on behalf of the community that sustained damage as a result of the catastrophic storm event. NR 47.953(4)(4) Two or more eligible applicants may enter into a cooperative agreement to jointly apply for funds under this subchapter, with one applicant designated as the fiscal agent on behalf of all applicants to administer the grant agreement on behalf of all cooperating members. NR 47.953 HistoryHistory: CR 08-062: cr. Register May 2009 No. 641, eff. 6-1-09. NR 47.954(1)(1) An eligible applicant may apply for a grant under this subchapter for the purpose specified under s. NR 47.950. NR 47.954(2)(2) Eligible applicants shall request grant funding on the application forms provided by the department. The application shall include a resolution of the applicant’s governing body that authorizes its representative to file the grant application, serve as the contact for purposes of a grant under this subchapter, and submit reimbursement claims. NR 47.954 NoteNote: Application materials are available upon request from the Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, 101 S. Webster Street, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921, DNRUrbanForestryGrants@wisconsin.gov. Completed forms and supporting documentation shall be mailed to the same address. Application materials may also be obtained from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources webpage at: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/UrbanForests/grants/index.html. NR 47.954(3)(3) An eligible applicant shall submit an application that is postmarked no later than 60 days from the date of the governor’s declaration of emergency for the catastrophic storm event for which funds are sought. NR 47.954(4)(4) The department may request additional or missing grant application information in writing or by other means. Applicants shall submit additional or missing information to the department within 30 days of the date of the request. Failure of applicants to provide the requested information by the deadline will result in the department returning the incomplete application to the applicant. NR 47.954(5)(5) The department shall evaluate all complete applications submitted using the criteria identified in s. NR 47.956. NR 47.954(6)(6) The department shall notify both eligible and ineligible applicants in writing of the status of their grant application within 60 days from the date the application is deemed complete. NR 47.954(8)(8) If an eligible applicant submits an application but all program funds have been expended during a fiscal year, the department shall hold the application for reconsideration when additional funds become available. The department shall notify the applicant in writing of the reason for the delay and the opportunity for reconsideration of the application when additional funds become available. NR 47.954 HistoryHistory: CR 08-062: cr. Register May 2009 No. 641, eff. 6-1-09. NR 47.955NR 47.955 Eligible and ineligible costs. NR 47.955(1)(1) Eligible costs. Under this subchapter, the applicant’s cost of removing, repairing, and replacing trees in an urban forest that have been damaged by a catastrophic storm event shall be eligible for reimbursement so long as those costs are not otherwise reimbursed by federal disaster assistance or other funding sources. To be eligible for reimbursement, the applicant shall have incurred eligible costs within a 365-day period beginning on the date on which the governor makes the declaration of emergency. Eligible costs includes: NR 47.955(1)(a)(a) Rented, leased or applicant supplied equipment and facilities. NR 47.955(1)(b)(b) Purchased equipment. For equipment whose useful life is one year or less, the full purchase price is an eligible cost. For equipment whose useful life is greater than one year, eligible cost is equal to one year’s useful life as determined by dividing the purchase price by the number of years of useful life of the equipment. Useful life of equipment shall be determined by the department. Regardless of the useful life, equipment costing more than $5,000 per unit is not eligible for reimbursement. NR 47.955(1)(c)(c) Salaries and fringe benefits associated with applicant personnel engaged in removing, repairing and replacing storm-damaged trees. NR 47.955(1)(d)(d) Contractor and consultant service agreements to remove, repair and replace storm-damaged trees. NR 47.955(1)(f)(f) Tree removal, stump grinding, cleaning and filling holes left by tree removal, tree repair, replacement tree purchase and planting, soil amendment and mulching, and tree guards and other protective devices for new tree establishment. NR 47.955(1)(g)(g) Disposal of wood and brush from tree removal and repair. NR 47.955(1)(h)(h) Processing wood and brush for other uses from tree removal and repair. NR 47.955(1)(j)(j) Necessary supplies. Supplies may include but are not limited to maps, fuel, computer software or devices for storm damage assessment and response, photocopies, photography, postage and other supply costs determined by the department to be reimbursable. Supplies do not include rent, personal computers, office printers or capital expenditures. NR 47.955(2)(2) Cost containment. Applicants shall control costs using the following methods. Failure by the applicant to demonstrate cost containment efforts at the time of reimbursement request may result in refusal by the department to issue reimbursement payments. Cost containment methods include the following: NR 47.955(2)(a)(a) Heavy equipment costs shall be calculated on an hourly or mileage rate, not to exceed the hourly or mileage rates established by the Wisconsin department of transportation for highway equipment. NR 47.955 NoteNote: The county highway rates for equipment are formulated under s. 84.07, Stats., and can be found in chapter 5 of the State Highway Maintenance Manual published by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 4822 Madison Yards Way, PO Box 7910, Madison, WI 53707. NR 47.955(2)(b)(b) Applicants shall implement cost-effective best management practices. All tree care operations shall meet standards established in all parts of the most current editions of ANSI A300 American National Standard for Tree Care Operations — Standard Practices and ANSI Z133.1 American National Standard for Arboricultural Operations — Safety Requirements. NR 47.955 NoteNote: The ANSI standards are available at www.isa-arbor.com International Society of Arboriculture, PO Box 3129, Champaign, IL 61826. NR 47.955(2)(c)(c) Costs for removing, repairing, replacing or planting trees may not exceed local market rates. NR 47.955 NoteNote: So that applicants may better comply with state procurement and cost-containment requirements, the department makes available the document titled Procurement Guide for Local Governments Receiving Grants. This document is available from the department upon request by writing to: Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, 101 S. Webster Street, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921, DNRUrbanForestryGrants@wisconsin.gov, or on-line at: http://dnr.wi.gov/aid/documents/procurementguide.pdf. NR 47.955(3)(3) Ineligible costs. The department may not reimburse costs not directly associated with the implementation of this subchapter. Those costs include, but are not limited to the following: NR 47.955(3)(a)(a) Costs incurred before or more than 365 days after a governor’s declared state of emergency for the applicant’s area. NR 47.955(3)(b)(b) Costs for the repair of structures, vehicles, fences, sidewalks or other objects damaged by damaged trees or their parts. NR 47.955(3)(c)(c) Legal or settlement costs due to storm-related litigation. NR 47.955(3)(d)(d) Costs of routine urban forest management to trees unaffected by the storm. NR 47.955(3)(e)(e) Fines and penalties due to violations of, or failure to comply with, federal, state or local laws or regulations. NR 47.955(3)(f)(f) Ordinary applicant operating expenses, also called indirect costs, such as salaries and expenses of elected officials that are not directly related to urban forestry management. NR 47.955(3)(g)(g) Costs incurred in a contract which creates a real or apparent conflict of interest. NR 47.955(4)(4) Conflict of interest prohibition. An apparent conflict of interest arises when an official or employee of an applicant participates in the selection, awarding or administration of a contract supported by the grant and either: NR 47.955(4)(a)(a) The official or employee, or his or her spouse or partner or children, has an ownership interest in the firm selected for the contract. NR 47.955(4)(b)(b) A person identified in par. (a) receives a contract, gratuity or favor as a result of the award of the contract. NR 47.955 HistoryHistory: CR 08-062: cr. Register May 2009 No. 641, eff. 6-1-09; correction in (2) (d) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register May 2010 No. 653. NR 47.956NR 47.956 Application review criteria. NR 47.956(1)(1) The department shall review and consider, as a group, all applications postmarked within 60 days of each state of emergency declaration made by the governor. Each application in the group shall be evaluated for all of the following factors: NR 47.956(1)(a)(a) Extent of tree damage in public areas, residential properties, businesses and natural areas. NR 47.956(1)(b)(b) The damaged area within the applicant’s jurisdiction as a percentage of overall land area. NR 47.956(1)(c)(c) Repair work needed in the categories of tree removal, stump grinding and cleanup; tree restoration; tree planting and the estimated cost of those repairs. NR 47.956(2)(2) Each eligible applicant will share grant funding with all other reviewed applications in its group consistent with the provisions in s. NR 47.957 (3). NR 47.956 HistoryHistory: CR 08-062: cr. Register May 2009 No. 641, eff. 6-1-09. NR 47.957(1)(1) Source of grant funding. The department shall allocate up to 20% of the amount appropriated under s. 20.370 (5) (az) and (2) (mv), Stats., for grants issued under this subchapter. An individual grant awarded by the department under this subchapter may range from not less than $4,000 and not more than $50,000. NR 47.957(2)(2) Restrictions. The department may not award funds under this subchapter if eligible costs were received by the applicant from any of the following sources: NR 47.957(3)(a)(a) All eligible applicants following the governor’s state of emergency declaration will share grant funds available under this subchapter at that time. If grant funds are insufficient to fully fund all eligible applicants, the department will pro-rate available funds among all eligible applicants until funds are exhausted. NR 47.957(3)(b)(b) The department shall issue a grant agreement to all eligible applicants that receive grant funds. The grant agreement shall be signed by the applicant’s authorized representative and returned to the department within 30 days of the date of the agreement. Failure of the applicant to sign and return the grant agreement by the deadline may result in the department canceling the agreement and awarding associated funds to another eligible applicant. NR 47.957(4)(4) Applicant match. There is no match requirement for grants under this subchapter. It is anticipated that project costs will exceed available grant funding. Costs in excess of the grant award amount are the responsibility of the applicant. NR 47.957(5)(5) Advance payments. Applicants may request from the department one advance payment not to exceed 50% of the total grant award amount. Applicants shall make this request, in writing, when returning the signed grant agreement to the department. The applicant shall maintain detailed records and proofs of payment to justify expenditure of any advance for a project under this subchapter. Applicants shall submit these proofs of payment when final reimbursement is requested. NR 47.957 HistoryHistory: CR 08-062: cr. Register May 2009 No. 641, eff. 6-1-09; correction (1) under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register October 2015 No. 718; correction in (1) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register July 2018 No. 751. NR 47.958(1)(1) Claim submittal. Only eligible applicants that have entered into a signed grant agreement with the department for funding under this subchapter may apply for reimbursement of urban forest damage costs. Eligible applicants shall do all of the following: NR 47.958 NoteNote: Reimbursement claim forms are available upon request from the Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, 101 S. Webster Street, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921, DNRUrbanForestryGrants@wisconsin.gov. Completed forms and supporting documentation shall be mailed to the same address. Forms may also be found on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources webpage at: http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/UrbanForests/grants/. NR 47.958(1)(b)(b) Submit proofs of payment with reimbursement claims. Proofs of payment may include copies of canceled checks, copies of checks and bank statements and credit card receipts and credit card statements. NR 47.958(1)(c)(c) Specify all of the following if the applicant seeks reimbursement of employee salaries or fringe benefits, or independent contractor fees. NR 47.958(1)(c)1.1. The position number of the employee, or the contract number of the independent contractor. NR 47.958(1)(c)2.2. The total amount of salaries and fringe benefits, or the total amount of contractor fees, for which the applicant seeks reimbursement. NR 47.958 NoteNote: So that applicants may better comply with state procurement and cost-containment requirements, the department makes available the document titled Procurement Guide for Local Governments Receiving Grants. The document is available from the department upon request by writing to: Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry, 101 S. Webster Street, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921, DNRUrbanForestryGrants@wisconsin.gov, or on-line at: http://dnr.wi.gov/aid/documents/procurementguide.pdf. NR 47.958(1)(f)(f) Comply with generally accepted accounting principles and practices. NR 47.958(1)(g)(g) Substantiate, with proofs of payment, any advance payment earlier provided by the department. NR 47.958(1)(h)(h) Submit final reimbursement claims postmarked within 60 days of the end of the grant agreement. NR 47.958(2)(2) Disbursement. The department shall disburse payments under this subchapter following review of final reimbursement claims submitted by applicants. The department shall compare reimbursement claims with the applicant grant agreement. The department shall offset the amount of a final reimbursement by any portion of an advance that the applicant cannot substantiate with proofs of payment and by other sources of funding that the applicant has received for damages in the same storm event as described in s. NR 47.957 (2). NR 47.958(3)(3) Repayment of advance. If the department finds that proofs of payment are insufficient to substantiate the full amount of an advance, the department shall notify the applicant in writing and request additional documentation. The applicant shall respond to the request for additional information within 30 days of receiving written notice from the department. If the applicant cannot substantiate the full amount of an advance, then the applicant shall return the unsubstantiated balance of the advance to the department within 30 days of receipt of the department’s request. NR 47.958 HistoryHistory: CR 08-062: cr. Register May 2009 No. 641, eff. 6-1-09. NR 47.959NR 47.959 Audit and records retention.
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