Do you guys have "ward councilors" there?
Local government persons are appointed to manage certain areas and suburbs over here and we always make sure that we know the key guys to speak to.
If not, then there should be a person that is in charge of this new grant. That is your target to befriend and to deal with. I always go straight to the top instead of laboring for months through the processes to get things done.

Hahaha, we wear yesteryears clothes and couldn't worry about about being up to date on anything lol.
Burt I know what you mean, as to them everything must have that new and shiny look.
They would use a new spade for a job, won't clean it afterwards and if it starts to show signs of rust, out it goes.
A poor guy discovers that spade and he uses it for the next 10 years hahaha.