Sewer expansion to East Rockingham, seed money for wastewater expansion between Rockingham and Ellerbe and renovations at Richmond Community College all got a boost from a statewide foundation Thursday afternoon.

The GoldenLEAF Foundation’s Board of Governor’s approved all three of Richmond County’s Community Assistance Initiative grant proposals in their full amount.

“The board believes this is the kind of human and physical investments the Richmond County citizens identified as a priority will move the county ahead economically,” Foundation President Dan Gerlach said after the meeting. “We appreciate the hard work of the people involved in this process in Richmond County, and look forward to seeing these investments come to fruition.”

The Ellerbe-Rockingham wastewater connection will receive $1 million in funding, the East Rockingham sewer expansion by the City of Rockingham will get approximately $664,000 and the work on the Forte Building at RCC gets $500,000.

Rockingham Mayor Gene McLaurin said the two awards for the Ellerbe and East Rockingham projects give the municipal government an opportunity to reach outside of its jurisdiction to address needs of the larger community.

“These are projects that will improve the quality of life for citizens of Richmond County for years to come,” he said. “It’s a good day for our community. The GoldenLEAF Foundation isn’t a rubber stamp, they don’t just automatically approve any project, so I think it speaks to the hard work all those who participated in those forums did that we had all three funded for their full amounts.”

McLaurin used a term GoldenLEAF officials used during the public forums held to identify the most needed projects in the county — “move the needle.”

“I think these three projects definitely move us in that direction,” McLaurin said.

The amount approved for sewer expansion to East Rockingham will be combined with $800,000 in stimulus funding, city officials said.

The money awarded Thursday will pay for the trunk line of the project.

Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump said the city has decided to wait until the $800,000 it received in stimulus funding is in-hand and bid both of these projects out together, “hopefully by the end of the year.”

“Usually, the larger a project is, the better the pricing is on it,” Crump said.

This strategy is a gamble because if the economy does turn around in the next three to four months and prices will rise.

Crump pointed out the two grant agreements don’t have a finite date when they will be obtained. “I think they’re going to be so close together it won’t make any difference,” Crump said.

“Even if the prices do shoot back up, it’s still going to be cheaper the bigger a project is, because you’re only paying mobilization cost to get the equipment out here one time,” he said.

Crump also said the money awarded for the Ellerbe wastewater expansion will be used to leverage funding for the estimated $5.3 million project.

Possible sources of additional grant funding include the Rural Center and the Clean Water Management Trust Fund.

“We will be working closely with the Lumber River Council of Governments, the Town of Ellerbe and the county to make sure that this project becomes a reality also,” he said.

RCC President Dr. Sharon Morrissey was also pleased with the decision of the GoldenLEAF governors.

“This grant is important because our region’s economic strength depends on the education and skills of our workers,” she said. “We are pleased that the GoldenLEAF Foundation recognizes the value of this project to increase the number of people with post-secondary education in our service area, create a more highly-skilled workforce, and promote economic development.”

She said this money, too, will used to leverage other funds for the project which would ultimately double the size of the building, adding classrooms and laboratories.

She said the project is “more than bricks and mortar,” explaining the renovation will allow the college to upgrade its engineering instruction and “support state-of-the-art hands-on instruction.”