MILFORD — A presentation by the Milford Housing Development Corp. about a grant it received to improve central Milford preceded Monday’s City Council meeting, which opened with a Hindu invocation in the Sanskrit language for the first time.

“Right before COVID hit, MHDC was awarded a regional planning grant from the Wells Fargo Regional Planning Foundation,” said Russell Huxtable, MHDC’s CEO. “That planning grant is to help us organize some thoughts and some actions into some next steps of community-development work.”

The grant is focused on Milford’s most centrally located neighborhoods along Walnut Street, North Front Street and South Front Street.

The goal, Mr. Huxtable said, is to “work into an implementation grant, which will attract a lot more resources into the city.”

But before it can move forward with this implementation grant, the MHDC needs to know what members of the community would like to see carried out. So it has crafted a survey with a few dozen questions about community. It hopes to have at least 200 households fill out the survey, so the first 200 people to respond will receive a $5 gift card donated by a local business.

“We really want to hear from the residents as far as what they would like to see happen in their community, how they’d like to be engaged, some of the programs they would like to be offered,” Mr. Huxtable said. “This kickoff survey is going to be critically important to that work.”

Central Milford residents should keep an eye on their mail for a postcard with instructions about how to participate.

For more information, contact MHDC at 491-4015 or email Susan Davis, a resource development specialist, at sdavis@milfordhousing.com.

Council also allotted some funds for emergency repairs to the handrails along the Riverwalk behind the library.

“It’s definitely an emergency safety issue down there, and we need to get down there and get some repairs done,” said Brad Dennehy, the director of Milford’s Parks & Recreation department.

He said the department saved money on a different capital project, and he’d like to use those funds for the handrail project.

“I had some bridge painting, which was allocated about $25,000, and I was able to get it done for $6,300, so there’s a little bit over $18,000 left in that line item,” Mr. Dennehy said. “My proposal is to take the balance of those funds and use them for those repairs.”

Council did ultimately give him permission to repurpose those monies.

“Props to Mr. Dennehy to finding money in the budget that was saved elsewhere,” Councilman Todd Culotta said. “This is definitely something that needs to happen.”

In other action, City Engineer James Puddicombe updated the council on the complete rebuild of the utility and road infrastructure in one neighborhood on the south side of the Mispillion River.

The price tag for the Mispillion Street Group Project, as its known to those in the city’s engineering department, has ballooned a bit.

“The city determined that additional work was necessary to ensure the longevity of the proposed construction,” Mr. Puddicombe said. “There are two sections of ductile iron water main installed at an unknown date but known to have turned brittle due to age.”

Because those mains now need to be replaced, he recommended “amending the contract with Diamond Materials in the amount of $94,954, allowing the additional work to be performed under the existing project.”

Council approved these recommendations, and now, the project is expected to cost $777,340 rather than the initially approved $682,386.