Published: May 11, 2009 06:37 pm      

Council seeking stimulus funds to help pay for expensive projects

Crossville City Council meets for their regular May meeting Tuesday and several upcoming capital projects that may benefit from federal stimulus funding will be discussed and considered for financing approval.

The meeting gets under way at 6 p.m. in the council's chambers at Crossville City Hall. There will also be an audit committee meeting at 5:30 p.m. and both meetings are open to the public.

The city has a number of capital projects ready to go or in the final stages of being “shovel ready.” Shovel ready is an important concept because it means these projects are ready or almost ready for bidding and could quickly put people to work and purchase capital equipment from U.S. manufactures, key components required in the use of federal stimulus money.

Projects up for approval on tonight's agenda include Meadow Park Lake reservoir improvements, the Highway 70N water line and a third fire station for the city fire department. Rural Development, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has received additional funds for community improvement projects that will be awarded on a first come, first served basis.

The Meadow Park Lake projects include a water harvesting project as well as the long planned dam improvement project. This resolution is to request up to $10 million in funding for the projects through the money available from the stimulus package. Another resolution on the agenda seeks up to $2.5 million for the Highway 70N water line extension.

The council will also consider a resolution for up to $3.2 million to fund a new fire hall and fire truck. The location of the proposed fire hall has not yet been selected but city growth is beginning to strain the fire department's response time justifying the need for the new hall.

Because of the projects, the city is required to pass resolutions committing to raising water and sewer rates when the projects get under way. The projects are expected to be funded 60 percent from low interest loans and the remaining 40 percent forgiven or through a grant. The proposed rate increases are 3 percent for sewer and water rates will rise by 20 percent with a five percent increase each year over four years. The sewer rate increase will cost the average household that uses 4000 gallons of water a month 56 cents a month while the first year increase in water rates will cost that same household 76 cents in the city and $1.11 a month outside the city.

Councilman Boyd Wyatt has asked for time on the agenda to discuss water loss and plans to reduce the differences between the water that is produced and the amount that is actually billed. This loss can be the result of leaks, bad meters or a number of other problems. City staff have been tracking the problem at the request of the council for several months.

The council will consider requesting assistance from the state for help with infrastructure costs in the proposed Chestnut Hill industrial park. The program is called the fast-track pilot program and will pay for water and sewer infrastructure in the park being developed from the city's former Dorton Landfill property.

Other matters on council's fairly lengthy agenda include approval of a paving list to be completed by June 30 this year, renewal of Veolia's contract with the city to operate the wastewater treatment plant and once again the city will look at possible improvements to the intersection at Deerfield and Tenth streets.