Marshall Approves Farnsworth Agreement for CDBG Grant Administration

Marshall Board of Education | August 13, 2026

Article Summary: The Marshall City Council on Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, approved an activity delivery agreement with Farnsworth Group to administer a DCEO Community Development Block Grant public infrastructure grant. The agreement in the council’s materials does not name the project and does not state a dollar amount; its fee schedule, Exhibit A, is not included in the packet.

CDBG Activity Delivery Agreement Key Points:

Farnsworth Group would handle application assistance, grant-file setup, grant coordination, compliance assistance, progress reporting, reimbursement-request assistance and closeout.

Engineering design, plans and specifications, bidding, construction observation and construction management are excluded unless added by written amendment.

Compensation is to be paid entirely with local municipal funds, not CDBG funds.

Warren J. Le Fever moved approval, seconded by Greg King; all council members voted in favor.

MARSHALL — The Marshall City Council on Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, voted unanimously to approve an activity delivery agreement from Farnsworth Group for a DCEO Community Development Block Grant public infrastructure grant.

Le Fever made the motion. King seconded. The minutes record that upon roll call all council members voted in favor and the motion carried.

The agreement in the council’s agenda materials is dated Aug. 11, 2026, and is made between the City of Marshall, described as an Illinois municipal corporation, and Farnsworth Group, described as a corporation and identified throughout as the administrator.

Under the purpose section, the city “intends to apply to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (‘DCEO’) for Community Development Block Grant (‘CDBG’) funding for [project name].” The bracketed placeholder appears in the document as printed; the project is not identified anywhere in the agreement or elsewhere in the agenda materials.

The city retains the administrator to provide CDBG activity delivery services, the agreement states, including application assistance, grant-file setup and maintenance, grant coordination, compliance assistance, progress reporting, reimbursement-request assistance and grant closeout assistance. Engineering design, plans and specifications, bidding, construction observation, construction management and other engineering services “are excluded from this Agreement unless added by a written amendment.”

On procurement, the agreement states the city selected the administrator in accordance with its procurement procedures and applicable requirements of 2 CFR Part 200, and that procurement records will be retained in the city’s CDBG grant files. It also states that the agreement “was authorized by the council, adopted on the date of this agreement” — a date of Aug. 11, 13 days before the council’s recorded vote.

The compensation section states the city “shall pay Administrator an amount not to exceed the approved on amount for services under this Agreement, based on the fee schedule attached as Exhibit A.” Exhibit A is not included in the agenda materials, and no dollar figure appears anywhere in the document. Compensation under the agreement “will be paid entirely with local municipal funds and not with CDBG funds,” the agreement states. The administrator is to submit itemized invoices no more frequently than monthly, describing services performed and showing applicable hours, rates and charges.

The term begins on the date of execution and ends upon completion of the services and CDBG grant closeout, unless terminated earlier by the city on written notice. The administrator is to maintain records supporting services and invoices and to provide relevant records to the city, DCEO, HUD or other authorized agencies on request, and is to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest to the city. Any change to scope, fee or term must be made by written amendment signed by both parties.

The signature page lists Andrew C. Hanfland, senior engineering manager, for Farnsworth Group, Inc., and Mayor John L. Hasten for the city. Both signature and date lines are blank in the copy distributed with the agenda. The document’s footer identifies it as “Client PSA Rev. 10_March 2023.”

The minutes record no discussion of the agreement, the project it would support, or its cost.