City awarded $700,000 for water project

The City of Greencastle has been awarded a $700,000 grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) for improvements to the local water system.

The project will include:

-- A new generator for the city’s water treatment plant to take care of an issue in which the current generator does meet demands during power outages.

-- Replacement of approximately one mile of water main along Albin Pond Road, aka the “Big Water Loop,” installed during the Mike Harmless Administration to facilitate the relocation of Sherwin-Willliams to Greencastle in the building that now houses Crown Equipment Co. The at-risk trunk line has sustained numerous leaks in the past year, resulting in a lot of lost water.

-- Installing 19 fire hydrants and valves with 10 new hydrants to be put in between Tacoma Drive and Toddson Drive and nine upgrades in various locations within the system. The new fire hydrants and new valves will increase fire protection and system isolation capabilities.

Mayor Bill Dory noted that the new generator should operate the entire water plant. Currently with the smaller generator, “we basically have to operate everything by hand when it goes down,” the mayor said.

The expanded electrical capacity will allow the plant to function properly and decrease the possibility of water system failure.

The overall $1.9 million project will include a $1.2 million match coming from engineering and environmental review work already complete and the remainder set aside in the Water Department budget.

The mayor said engineering will probably get done this winter with the project going out for bid next spring before work commences on Albin Pond Road next summer.

“We certainly appreciate the support of the state of Indiana in making this investment in our community,” Mayor Dory said.

“Our water works folks worked hard on this project as did our consultants. It was a great team effort by all involved.”

Consultants involved were grant administrator Kristy Jerrell of Jerrell Consulting and Grant Administration Services and project engineer Jill Curry of Curry & Associates.

The mayor said typically the state gives grant recipients 18 months to complete such projects.

“The goal is to get it done very quickly,” he said, noting that an extension can be made due to weather factors.

Receiving the grant also “tempers future rate increases” for city water customers as well, the mayor added.

While the city was waiting on the OCRA grant, it also bundled the water project with wastewater and stormwater projects and submitted that to the State Water Infrastructure Fund.

Although he does not expect the city to receive any of those funds, which are expected to be announced early this week, Dory said more than $1 billion in proposed projects were submitted from across the state with only $60 million in funding reportedly available.

Greencastle was one of 25 rural Indiana communities sharing more than $12.8 million in federal grant funding to improve water infrastructure and to address blighted properties, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch said.

“These grants are important for our rural communities to continue their economic and community development,” Crouch said. “Not only does this funding help address blight and water infrastructure issues, but also is an important investment to improving the quality of life and quality of place for Hoosiers.”

The State of Indiana distributes Community Development Block Grant funds to rural communities, which assist units of local government with various community projects such as infrastructure improvement, downtown revitalization, public facilities and economic development.

Funding for OCRA’s CDBG programs originates from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program and is administered for the State of Indiana by OCRA.