March 2, 2023 |
Photo – Bigfoot99 File Photo
The State Loan and Investment Board, on Tuesday, awarded the City of Rawlins over $917,000 in federal money for improvements Sage Creek Basin Spring Boxes.
The state loan board is comprised of Wyoming’s top elected officials with Governor Mark Gordon serving as the chairman. SLIB met this week to award $49 million in requests after receiving $158 million in requests from around the state for a variety of projects.
The board granted the entire $917,548 requested by the City of Rawlins.
Despite closed roads across the region, Mayor Terry Weickum and Interim City Manager Tom Sarvey attended the meeting in Cheyenne Tuesday morning to make the case for the request. Mayor Weickum said the money would be used to complete the second phase of a six-phase water infrastructure improvement project.
Mayor Weickum said the city is matching the grant with 50 percent of city money because the work is to replace about ten spring boxes. The boxes form a water collection system 23 miles south of Rawlins.
The cost of the replacement project is estimated at around $2 million. In addition to the ARPA grant, The City of Rawlins will contribute an additional $717,000 from Chokecherry Impact Assistance Funds and $238,000 from a General Fund Loan to complete the project.
The spring boxes will allow the city to capture more spring water. The current boxes have become compromised with age and are less effective at holding water. City staff report that new boxes will allow the city to capture water at rate equal to its water right in the spring.
Treasurer Curt Meir, one of the loan board members, asked if the city was going to tamper with the springs, the city’s primary water source, a practice the treasurer said has created trouble for other communities in the state.
Mayor Weickum told the board the work is focused on replacing the 100-year-old wood stave pipeline and spring boxes. No work has been done on the spring itself, the mayor told the board.
Neither, Mayor Weickum nor the Interim City Manager, could provide a specific answer to the board about the number of boxes that need to be replaced. According to a release Thursday from city staff, a total of 15 spring and junction boxes will be replaced.
The board unanimously approved the full amount of the city’s $917,548 request. Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder and the Governor expressed their appreciation that the mayor and city manager were at the meeting despite the roads.
According to the Office of State Loan and Investment, 97 applications totaling more than $180 million for the Chapter 42 Local Government ARPA grants were accepted between December 20, 2022 and January 23rd of this year. The state must obligate all funds must by December 31, 2024 and the money must be expended by December 31, 2026.
The springs box replacement project is one in a series of infrastructure projects the city will undertake in the next few years.
