Sewer district ready for USDA funding

The Jay County Regional Sewer District is about ready to finalize its funding request after receiving construction permits for all three sewer projects in the works.

"We now have construction permits for all three construction areas from (the Indiana Department of Environmental Management)," said Ben Adams of Commonwealth Engineers.

With the permits for the Foxfire project south of Portland, Skeens Addition project north of Dunkirk and Willow Drive project in south Dunkirk, the district can send the final paperwork needed to the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development office to request a grant.

The district is expected to get up to 45 percent of the $1.2 million total project cost in grant money. The remaining money would come in the form of a 40-year loan provided by Rural Development.

Adams said he will need to send in some additional forms to finalize the grant request and that he expects to have a response from Rural Development by next month's meeting.

In other business, Adams also presented the district with a listing of unpaid bills owed to Commonwealth totaling $42,225.54, with some of those bills going as far back as November 2008.

The district board voted to pay what bills it could, but the board has insufficient funds to cover the entire cost. The district is waiting for its grant/loan funding to come in to pay the remainder of the startup costs for the projects.[[In-content Ad]]