Admittedly, this is not the most glamorous civic project.

Of course, when there’s a threat of flooding, having a well-functioning stormwater pumping station ready to go sounds pretty appealing.

In a gesture of civic housekeeping, City of San Rafael staff are offering the city to direct a portion of its federal pandemic grant toward the long-planned $3.2 million reconstruction of its aging pumphouse off Shoreline Parkway, behind Target and Home Depot stores.

In short, the city is spending one-time money for a one-time need.

Built in 1972, the pumphouse was built to help prevent flooding in the area and on Highway 580. It is designed to prevent the storm water retention pond from overflowing and flooding nearby properties and the highway.

The city had racked up $500,000 from stormwater fees it collected on property tax bills, but its state and federal grant applications had been denied.

The US federal bailout, aimed at preventing the economic impacts of the pandemic from hampering city services and meeting coronavirus-related needs, is generating $16 million for the city budget. Some municipalities in Marin, including San Rafael, used the funding to pay for housing and services for local homeless people.

But the U.S. bailout also lists local capital improvement projects as appropriate uses of the funds.

The city’s Director of Public Works, Bill Guerin, says despite regular maintenance, the 50-year-old pumphouse is “getting very tired” and the small concrete building vibrates when the pumps are turned on. Worse still, the 960-foot-long drain pipe has numerous leaks, he said.

“After nearly 50 years of operation, the pump station and discharge pipe have exceeded their useful life and need to be replaced,” Guerin said in his staff report.

City Council has given staff the go-ahead to finalize design work for a new station. Much work has already been completed, but the project has stalled because the city has been unable to obtain further grants to pay for the construction.

Given the threat of sea level rise, the new pumping station will be designed to be powerful in terms of capacity. It will also be more energy efficient, according to city staff.

Of course, there could be more political glamor in rebuilding a playground and opening a new building in town. Even repaving a street full of potholes might attract more public attention.

But the city has vital housekeeping responsibilities that aren’t so glamorous, ones that don’t usually get the groundbreaking treatment of the ceremonial golden shovel. Helping to prevent widespread flooding is one of them.

The city has a network of 12 pumping stations designed to meet this objective. Their maintenance and operation cost money, far more than the short-term and long-term material losses if the pumps fail.

Pumphouses aren’t high-profile civic improvements, unless they fail.

Maintaining stormwater pumping stations in good repair is a vital responsibility of the city.

This project appears to comply with the rules governing the use of US bailout money and the use of some of this funding for such construction will support and provide jobs for suppliers and crews and improve public safety. .