OTTUMWA —
After four years of planning, review and anticipation, the city of Ottumwa was notified it will receive more than $12 million in federal grant money.
The city was awarded $12,166,575 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
The grant will take care of 75 percent of the cost of the $16.22 million project. The city is also receiving $1,622,000 from the state, and the city will provide a local match of $2,433,000, though it will be helped by a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), said Public Works Director Larry Seals.
“This has been going on for four years,” Seals said. “It really started after the flood of 2008, and FEMA announced the program in late 2008.”
Seals said the long wait “is just the FEMA process.”
“By the time we go through different levels of review, of engineering review and the full set of preliminary plans, they want to make sure the project is feasible before they fund it,” Seals said. “There were multiple steps of environmentals we had to jump through, and you don’t start one step until the previous one has been cleared. By the time all that is done, it adds up.”
Seals said in conversations with the city’s consulting firm, Veenstra and Kimm, they noted one city that waited seven years before they were awarded a FEMA grant.
“I guess it’s just the nature of the beast,” Seals said.
The money will go toward the West End Sewer Separation Project, part of the overarching, unfunded, federally mandated sewer separation project. It will also put a flood wall around Ottumwa Water and Hydro, build a storm water pump station and update gate well structures in the existing levee that will convey overland storm water into the Des Moines River.
The preliminary designs are already done, Seals said, and once funding is secured, the city will dive into the final details and let the project in two phases.
In determining sewer rate increases last fall, the City Council chose the lowest increase, which depended on whether the city received this grant and whether Ottumwans will vote to continue the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) this fall.
Sewer rates increased 3 percent on Jan. 1, 5 percent on July 1 and will increase 4 percent on July 1, 2013.
Seals had said at a November City Council work session that “it always makes me nervous to count on a grant until we receive it and have it in our hands.”
Councilman Bob Meyers said the council was banking on the grant for not only the total sewer separation project but to keep sewer rates as low as possible.
“What it shows is that some of our lobbying in Washington, D.C., even though it isn’t done overnight, if we work at it, these things eventually come through,” Meyers said. “It’s been several years in the works, and we’re very appreciative not only at the local level but at the national level.”
Seals said the sewer rates that passed last fall counted on both the FEMA grant and $2.2 million from LOST.
If either don’t come through, Seals said, the city will have to go back and re-adjust sewer rates.
“It was an arduous project, and we didn’t do it alone,” Seals said. “City staff worked directly with [Veenstra and Kimm]. Project manager Todd Penisten was instrumental in getting the grant for us.”
Because it’s FEMA dollars, the city will have to match a portion of the grant, said Ottumwa Finance Director Bob Jay.
“That’s excellent news that that’s happened,” he said. “Originally, we were looking at a small match for the city’s side, something less than $500,000.”
Local News
Long-awaited grant comes through
City receives $12 million from FEMA for sewer separation, flood wall
- Local News
-
-
Storefronts to get a big facelift
OTTUMWA -- A fresh set of facades in one city block could build momentum for the revitalization of downtown Ottumwa. The city has received conditional approval for a $500,000 grant from the Iowa Economic Development Authority's downtown master facade
-
Tenco productivity increases thanks to new equipment
OTTUMWA — There's nothing like good partners who team up and improve the world around them. Tenco Industries and John Deere Ottumwa Works have teamed up to improve the way Tenco workers handle all the containers they receive for recycling and other
-
Date set in Pam Ward retrial
A date has been set for the retrial of former Ottumwa Transit Authority Director Pam Ward.
-
SLIDESHOW: Communications tower assembled
Crews assembled the new 250-foot communications tower Tuesday in just more than four hours.
-
Body of Fairfield boy recovered
FAIRFIELD -- Authorities in Montana say they have recovered the bodies of a grandmother and two grandchildren after the car they were in rolled into the Clark Fork River, including that of a Fairfield resident. Authorities were called Friday after a
-
Loosen up, help a student graduate
OTTUMWA -- Students in the massage therapy program at Indian Hills Community College are almost ready to graduate. They just need a little help from the community to complete their requirements. The 14 students in the program each need to clock 200 h
- County supervisors OK mental health contract OTTUMWA -- The Wapello County Supervisors on Monday approved renewing the county's contract with Southeast Iowa Case Management. Supervisor Jerry Parker said the action is related to making mental health affordable. "It's ObamaCare," he said. Manager
- Changes coming to council chambers OTTUMWA — Four city officials are up for re-election this fall, though only two plan on running. Mayor Frank Flanders, as well as Councilmen Bob Meyers, Brian Morgan and Jeremy Weller, will finish out their terms at the end of this year. "Things are
-
Not guilty plea entered in death of Oskaloosa infant
OSKALOOSA — An Oskaloosa man charged with murdering the infant he was babysitting has pleaded not guilty. On Monday, Bryan Draper Vilcone, 24, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, a Class A felony. On April 18, Oskaloosa Police officers respond
-
Hatchet attack suspect pleads guilty
OTTUMWA — The Ottumwa man charged in last summer's hatchet attack is headed to prison. Charles Julian Jason Zwer, 27, pleaded guilty this month to willful injury causing serious injury, a Class C felony, and assault while participating in a felony, a
- More Local News Headlines
-
