(1) The department shall:(a) Provide information to local governments and local highway beautification councils regarding the state highway beautification grants program.
(b) Accept grant requests from local governments.
(c) Review grant requests for compliance with department rules.
(d) Establish rules for evaluating and prioritizing the grant requests. The rules must include, but are not limited to, an examination of each grant’s aesthetic value, cost-effectiveness, level of local support, feasibility of installation and maintenance, and compliance with state and federal regulations. Rules adopted by the department which it uses to evaluate grant applications must take into consideration the contributions made by the highway beautification project in preventing litter.
(e) Maintain a prioritized list of approved grant requests. The list must include recommended funding levels for each request and, if staged implementation is appropriate, provide funding requirements for each stage.
(2) Local highway beautification councils may be created by local governmental entities or by the Legislature. Before being submitted to the department, a grant request must be approved by the local government or governments of the area in which the project is located.
(3) The head of the department shall award grants to local governmental entities that have submitted grant requests for beautification of roads on the State Highway System and which requests are on the approved list. The grants shall be awarded in the order they appear on the prioritized list and in accordance with available funding.
(4) State highway beautification grants may be requested only for projects to beautify through landscaping roads on the State Highway System. The grant request shall identify all costs associated with the project, including sprinkler systems, plant materials, equipment, and labor. A grant shall provide for the costs of purchase and installation of a sprinkler system and the cost of plant materials and fertilizer and may provide for the costs for labor associated with the installation of the plantings. Each local government that receives a grant shall be responsible for any costs for water, for the maintenance of the sprinkler system, for the maintenance of the landscaped areas in accordance with a maintenance agreement with the department, and, except as otherwise provided in the grant, for any costs for labor associated with the installation of the plantings. The department may provide, by contract, services to maintain such landscaping at a level not to exceed the cost of routine maintenance of an equivalent unlandscaped area.
