If Napa officials can convince the feds the local flood control project has meaning for the entire country, it could result in a financial windfall.

A fruitful meeting with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials sent Bill Dodd, chair of both the Board of Supervisors and the flood control board, beaming into the city council chambers Tuesday evening.

During a council break late in the evening, Dodd went up to the dais and whispered the news to Mayor Jill Techel. That ended in an exuberant high-five exchange.

If Napa can get the project declared "of national significance," it could increase the chances of financial success.

Major projects already deemed to have national significance include Port of Oakland, which gained $100 million in the current fiscal year, flood damage reduction in New Orleans, and upper Mississippi River restoration.

Evaluation criteria for the national significance designation vary and are based on specific project details. Comprehensiveness of the program, clearly stated goals, measurable objectives and a workable timeline are among them.

The Napa flood control project has garnered support from many regional entities such as the Water Resources Control Board and the Bay Institute. With the San Francisco Bay Estuary already considered a national treasure, Napa's location might make the local flood project a natural for the designation, according to Dodd.

Dodd, Techel and Public Works Director Bob Peterson are preparing for one of their regular visits to Washington, D.C., to lobby for federal dollars for flood control. One of their missions will be to persuade key administration officials and representatives of the Office of Management and Budget that Napa's flood plan is deserving of increased support in order to complete it before current estimates, which put it out as far as 2014.

Richard Mertens of OMB was one of the visitors to Napa this week, a fact Dodd finds encouraging. "If it were up to the Corps," said Dodd, "the project would be done by now. It's the administration and OMB that put up roadblocks."

But that may be changing. As federal officials view what Dodd termed "the economic renaissance" in downtown Napa along with the positive environmental aspects, chances of gaining more funding increase.

Napa's Washington representatives including Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., have led the charge in the nation's capital to secure funding for the quarter-billion dollar project. Typically, the administration's initial proposal is well below what the Corps estimates it can use in a given year. The amount edges up as appropriations bills move through Congress.

After a recent trip to Napa by Feinstein, she said "We're going to get some funds."

So far, only about $11 million has been earmarked for the fiscal year soon to be under way.