Clay Township and the city of St. Clair weren’t the only St. Clair County communities to get a $1 million federal appropriations grant this spring for infrastructure projects.
Marysville was also on that list of local community projects receiving funds for 2022 when announced in late March. But confirming the city’s selection days after its neighbors, city officials were surprised to learn their plans were getting a boost.
“We didn’t think we were going to get it,” City Manager Randy Fernandez said last week. Marysville and other communities applied for the funds a year ago. He added, “I can tell you that council and I, we’re ecstatic. We’re doing cartwheels.”
While the awards for St. Clair and Clay are going toward upgrading a local pump station and sewer interceptor, respectively, Marysville’s $1 million is earmarked for water and sewer system improvements.
However, like in St. Clair, where the city is using its grant to help address $10 million worth of needs, Marysville is also eyeing much larger improvements, including in its water and wastewater treatment plant facilities.
Fernandez didn’t put a final amount on what they’d need overall but said they are weighing borrowing the remaining funds in addition to any other potential grant funds.
“This is where we’re headed. … What this does is maybe we won’t have to bond for as much money, as an example,” he said of the $1 million. “I want to say we might have to bond for $8 million. Maybe now we only have to bond for seven million.”
According to the work description, parts of the city’s decades-old infrastructure, particularly fire hydrants and gate valves, will be replaced as part of the project’s phase one. There are about 650 fire hydrants and 820 gate valves in the system.
Combined with water main replacement, not addressed in the grant, officials said the upgrade will help prevent challenges that come with main breaks and undersized pipes, among others. Some of the city’s water mains date back prior to 1920, and Finance Director Mike Booth said they’ve already awarded a bid for $593,590 for a water main on Connecticut between 15th and 18th streets as this year’s water main project.
Water main, hydrant, and valve replacements were also aimed to improve water quality, reliability, and protection, according to the city’s grant application. A second phase of the project will include the replacement of 20 lead service lines.
Bari Wrubel, supervisor of Marysville’s water and wastewater operations, said their longer list of infrastructure improvements includes upgrades at both facilities.
At the water plant, for example, he said plans are mainly about improved treatment, such as taking steps to study and change the system’s coagulant, or what’s used to treat water for solids removal, and review its filter system. Some of that also includes necessary upgrades based on recommendations and requirements from the state.
They also need to address equipment upgrades in the plant’s intake room.
Of all of it, though, Wrubel said, “It’s complicated.”
“About every year, we’ll go down and clean out the intake pits, and there’s sand and debris left that was pulled in from the river,” Wrubel said. “We’re looking at replacing it, that pump equipment, to remove that debris. Some of that stuff is probably 40 years old, and it’s just time to renovate. It’s well past its life expectancy.
“The other one is our chemical containment area. We’re looking at beefing up how we have containment for our fluoride and our coagulant and just downsizing some of the tanks. … We’ll order more frequently, but it’s just to keep a smaller amount of chemicals on hand instead of having way too much that lasts six or eight months. We don’t need that much on hand. It’s just in case you do have a spill, it’s better to have less.”
They have other improvements on the wastewater side, too, but Wrubel added, “I’m not sure which way this is all going to shake out.”
Fernandez pointed to the state’s drinking water and clean water revolving funds as other potential sources of funding they’ve approached or plan to seek out.
But he said they’re putting an emphasis on water and sewer improvements and the commitment that comes with the decades-old facilities — challenges, he added, many other communities are also facing.
“It’s a money pit, and there’s always something we have to spend our money on, and I go, ‘But it’s our money pit,’” Fernandez said, referencing a discussion at a recent budget session. “Those are our buildings. We have to maintain them. What else are we going to do?
“No one’s going to see the improvements you make in the plant or you make outside the plant. That’s the unfortunate thing. But they’re needed,” Fernandez said. “You have to keep up with your aging infrastructure.”
Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.
[ad_2]
Originally Appeared Here