City of New Haven Receives “Letter of Intent” for $218,978 Grant

The City of New Haven expects to receive a $218,978 grant for wastewater lagoon improvements, following a “Letter of Intent” issued by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources this week.

The letter commits the funding to the City, pending the City meets an August 1, 2010 bid deadline. City officials say the bid deadline should not be a problem, as the project went out for bid June 30.

The grant is expected to pay half the cost of required improvements to the City’s wastewater treatment lagoon. The end result should be a cleaner City wastewater discharge at a substantial savings to City sewer users.

“Our wastewater discharge permit requires that improvements be made by early 2012,” said Steve Roth, City Administrator. “The grant basically allows us to do this at half the cost.”

The City is currently accepting bids for the project, which involves constructing an ultraviolet-light disinfection system at the wastewater lagoon. Bids will be opened July 30, with a contract award expected in August.

The state funding comes through the DNR’s Rural Sewer Grant program. The City is also utilizing a low-interest loan from DNR to finance its share of the project.

“There was a lot of competition for the grant funding,” Roth said. “We had to meet a pretty tight deadline to get through. The engineering firm (CM Archer Group) did a great
 job getting the plans in on time, and the assistance from DNR officials was very helpful.” City officials expect that project can be accomplished without an increase in the City’s sewer rates.

“Obviously we hope to get a good low bid,” Roth said. “We are cutting it pretty close but at this point it doesn’t look like a rate increase will be needed.”

The City also expects to utilize grant funds to replace the primary downtown sewer lift station and make other system improvements. The City has qualified for a $303,457 federal State and Tribal Assistance grant and expects that funding to come available in 2011.