Community development block grant is latest addition to grants

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Goessel is launching an ambitious project to improve city sewer service.

“We are relining pretty much all of the sewer lines due to the excess of water that’s getting into them from rainfall,” city clerk Jennifer Whitehead said. “We’re also doing some work at the lagoon ponds. They need cleaned out — they have a lot of sludge — and some piping work.”

Included will be a new lift station, Whitehead said.

An engineer is drawing up plans so the project can be put out for bids, Whitehead said. That is expected to take nearly a year, then bids will be taken for the work.

“It will probably a year from now before the bids come out,” Whitehead said.

Funding for the $2.7 million project will come from four sources.

Kansas Department of Commerce this month announced a $600,000 community development block grant for the project.

That, added to a $547,000 grant from USDA Rural Development, will cover nearly half of the cost of the project.

A loan from USDA will supply about $1.4 million for the city’s share, to be paid back by a $5 increase in sewer rates.