Town Of Manchester

Town Of Manchester — doing business as Town Of Manchester By The Sea — is a Massachusetts municipality and U.S. local government entity that acts as a federal grant recipient in emergency response, environmental infrastructure, and climate resilience. The town operates as a parent entity with no federal contracts as a prime or subcontractor; all federal activity is grant-based, with the town serving as prime recipient on eleven of fourteen awards (79%) and as sub-recipient on three grant sub-awards routed through state and nonprofit intermediaries.

The town's grant portfolio concentrates heavily in fire and emergency services. The Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters Financial Assistance Awards program funds six recent awards totaling recurring Assistance to Firefighters Grants (CFDA 97.044) and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program (CFDA 97.083). The most recent and largest award is a $1.338 million three-year SAFER grant dated March 19, 2026, running through March 18, 2029, to support hiring and retention of frontline firefighters and volunteer emergency responders. A $273,050 AFG Project Grant awarded September 30, 2025, and running through September 29, 2027, funds firefighter training, equipment procurement, health and wellness initiatives, and infrastructure improvements. An earlier $100,008 AFG award (August 2022–August 2024) supported fire prevention services and equipment.

Environmental and water infrastructure work is anchored by two additional customer agencies. The Environmental Protection Agency Region 1 awarded a January 6, 2025 Cooperative Agreement (ultimate completion June 30, 2026) for engineering design, permitting, and bidding phases on upgrades to the town's Lincoln Street Well Water Treatment Facility to treat PFAS, iron, and manganese per the 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funded a project grant awarded October 1, 2023, running through September 30, 2026, for climate resilience or environmental work. In the sub-recipient role, the town received a June 13, 2024 sub-award from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs to reconstruct the Central Street Bridge, remove a tide gate, and restore tidal flow between Sawmill Brook and Central Pond to mitigate recurring flooding. A Massachusetts Clean Water Trust sub-award (April 3, 2024) funded data collection and development of a lead service line inventory to prepare removal prioritization and action plans.

Combined obligated dollars across all federal grants total $5.9 million over a fifteen-year span. Recent activity has accelerated — one award in 2022–2023, four in 2024, two in 2025, and one in 2026 — with two awards reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months (the NOAA award and the EPA water treatment cooperative agreement). The town's federal grant footprint is characteristic of small-to-mid-sized municipalities: emergency management capacity building, infrastructure resilience, and environmental compliance.