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After wading through a mountain of paperwork the village of Metamora has received more than $1.6 million for sanitary sewer work.
Metamora Mayor Bill Belshaw shared information on the loan and grant that will fund the work with the Woodford Times.
Belshaw said he is very happy with the outcome of the village’s efforts to garner these funds.
“We’re starting on the project,” Belshaw said.
Part of the reason for his happiness is that Metamora was a winner in the fight for these highly competitive funds.
“We put in for federal stimulus money when it was out there. We were told then we were too late,” Belshaw said.
“We were then told about these funds and applied for them. I went to our legislators for help. State Rep. (David) Leitch, then State Sen. (Dale) Risinger and U.S. Rep. (Aaron) Schock all helped. They went to bat for us.”
The village received a $731,250 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in June.
On Oct. 4, the village board approved an engineering design and construction agreement.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development is working with an environmental consultant to prepare and obtain the required environmental clearances for the project.
These clearances are required before a “notice to proceed” will be granted by the commerce department.
Once the village begins work the grant funds will be distributed as work phase invoices are presented.
Depending on the timing of the issuance of the “notice to proceed” advertisement of bids could come as early as spring 2012.
If that schedule holds work could be completed by the end of 2012.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on Sept. 6 approved a $933,218 loan for the village to use to help finance the sewer project.
The interest rate on the loan is 1.25 percent, payable over 20 years.
The money will be used to work on the sanitary sewer tributary to the village’s south wastewater treatment plant.
The village has already held a pre-construction meeting with Hoerr Construction and Farnsworth Group and hopes the work covered by this loan has a completion date of Aug. 24, 2012.
Belshaw said the money approved for the project is not the end of the good news.
“If we still have work to do we could possibly get another loan equal to what we have now as we need it,” Belshaw said.
“That decision is made when you are almost finished with the project.”
After wading through a mountain of paperwork the village of Metamora has received more than $1.6 million for sanitary sewer work.
Metamora Mayor Bill Belshaw shared information on the loan and grant that will fund the work with the Woodford Times.
Belshaw said he is very happy with the outcome of the village’s efforts to garner these funds.
“We’re starting on the project,” Belshaw said.
Part of the reason for his happiness is that Metamora was a winner in the fight for these highly competitive funds.
“We put in for federal stimulus money when it was out there. We were told then we were too late,” Belshaw said.
“We were then told about these funds and applied for them. I went to our legislators for help. State Rep. (David) Leitch, then State Sen. (Dale) Risinger and U.S. Rep. (Aaron) Schock all helped. They went to bat for us.”
The village received a $731,250 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in June.
On Oct. 4, the village board approved an engineering design and construction agreement.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Development is working with an environmental consultant to prepare and obtain the required environmental clearances for the project.
These clearances are required before a “notice to proceed” will be granted by the commerce department.
Once the village begins work the grant funds will be distributed as work phase invoices are presented.
Depending on the timing of the issuance of the “notice to proceed” advertisement of bids could come as early as spring 2012.
If that schedule holds work could be completed by the end of 2012.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on Sept. 6 approved a $933,218 loan for the village to use to help finance the sewer project.
The interest rate on the loan is 1.25 percent, payable over 20 years.
The money will be used to work on the sanitary sewer tributary to the village’s south wastewater treatment plant.
The village has already held a pre-construction meeting with Hoerr Construction and Farnsworth Group and hopes the work covered by this loan has a completion date of Aug. 24, 2012.
Belshaw said the money approved for the project is not the end of the good news.
“If we still have work to do we could possibly get another loan equal to what we have now as we need it,” Belshaw said.
“That decision is made when you are almost finished with the project.”
Belshaw said the loan payments will not be a financial burden for the village.
“We operate in the black. The grant we don’t have to pay back,” Belshaw said.
“The village will not pay more for the loan than we would have for a bond, possibly less.”
The process of getting the grant and loan, Belshaw said, was an arduous one.
“You have to apply, which means a lot of paperwork. We had engineers and grant writers working on this. Between me, Mayor Pro Tem John Heinz and the grant writers we had a lot of work to do. We did it,” Belshaw said. “It took awhile. It didn’t happen overnight. The state has grant administrators. They have to make sure everything is on the up and up.”
