Ellerbe will receive about $850,000 for its wastewater regionalization project with the City of Rockingham and Richmond County. Hamlet will get $500,000 for repairs to the dam on city lake, the city’s primary drinking water source.
The two are among 119 projects the Rural Center announced it would support to the tune of $27.7 million.
In the case of Ellerbe, the high need status of the project and the town’s economically distressed classification led to it receiving more than the $500,000 usually allotted for this type of grant.
“These grants can go up to $1 million, but most are capped at $500,000,” said Rural Center Spokeswoman Garnett Bass. “In order to receive more than $500,000, they have to meet certain exceptions which are defined by their poverty rate, their median household income and the ability to pay ranking of the local government. Ellerbe qualified in all three of these.”
She explained these grants do not, however, exceed 25 percent of the total of the project, which is what Ellerbe was awarded.
Ellerbe Mayor Olivia Webb explained the town was able to exceed the normal funding amount from the agency, in large part, because of the cooperation of various officials and agencies, including N.C. Sen. Bill Purcell, N.C. Rep. Melanie Goodwin and the Lumber River Council of Governments.
“We’ve had a lot of people going to bat for us,” Webb said Monday.
Wastewater regionalization between Ellerbe and Rockingham will allow Ellerbe to close its outdated lagoon treatment system, while Rockingham will gain flow at its multi-million facility that is not operating at full capacity.
In September, $1 million was granted for the project from the GoldenLEAF Foundation through its community assistance grants initiative.
The total cost of the project is expected to be around $5.3 million, while Ellerbe’s portion is estimated to cost about $3.4 million.
“We’re really excited about this grant,” Webb said. “It’s going to cover about 25 percent of our cost.”
In addition to the more than $1.8 million in grant funding the town has picked up, it plans to put forward $500,000 of its own money, Webb said. That means it is still more than $1 million away from having all the cash it needs.
“Sen. Purcell and Rep. Goodwin are now helping us apply to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development) for the rest of it,” Webb said.
A possible source of funding had been identified in the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, but Webb said the state’s budget woes made that option less likely and the federal government will be the best source.
The Lumber River Council of Governments has offered a plan for the project to Rockingham, Ellerbe and the county. Thus far, it has been accepted by Rockingham and tabled by Ellerbe. The draft proposes a capacity of 250,000 gallons of raw sewage a day to be processed by the Rockingham Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The engineering firm of Hobbs, Upchurch and Associates of Southern Pines has already been approved to design the line, which would be paid for by Ellerbe and maintained by Rockingham.
The City of Rockingham is offering to charge the Town of Ellerbe its industrial rate of $2.30 per 1,000 gallons of sewage processing for a five-year period.
In the Rural Center grant, Ellerbe also receives $32,000 to study the wastewater collection system for causes of infiltration by rain and groundwater.
While Ellerbe’s expense is estimated at $3.4 million, Rockingham is also on the hook for $500,000 to upgrade and relocate its Hitchcock Creek lift station and the county will have to spend an estimated $1.4 million to increase the size of sewer lines and providing access points along 220.
The City of Hamlet will also receive a $500,000 grant from the Rural Center to assist with repairs on the City Lake Dam.
“The city definitely appreciates its partnership with the Rural Center, and we truly value what it does for rural North Carolina,” said City Manager Marchelle Adams David.
In addition to the good news of the grant award, David said the city also received good news about the cost of the project as it entered the final engineering phase of the project.
It may not cost the $1 million to $1.2 million in the original estimate.
The city has already spent $185,000 on the project, David said, and has budgeted another $100,000 toward it.
“Originally, they thought we were going to have to tear out the dam and build a whole new one,” David said Monday morning. “It looks like now we’re going to be able to repair a portion of it instead of a 100 percent replacement, which cuts costs a lot.”
The best case scenario being offered by the city’s engineers is the project coming back from bid anywhere from $890,000 to $950,000.
David said the original estimate of more than $1 million was based on the premise the whole dam would have to be replaced, and a larger temporary dam would be required.
“Also, a lot of the work on the site itself is being done by city employees, like removing trees and clearing the site, to cut down on the expense,” David said.
At Hamlet’s February City Council meeting, Grimes Engineering Project Engineer T.J. Grimes told the council problems at the dam include concrete deterioration, trees overhanging the dam and some seepage.
“Any dam faces problems and there’s always a chance any dam will fail, no matter how old or new,” Grimes said. “There is nothing really unique about what’s going on with this, it’s typical.”
Additionally, Grimes said his firm would attempt to increase the emergency spillway capacity to bring it up to state standards.
Approximately $21 million of the Rural Center money will go to 76 water and sewer projects. These funds will leverage another $40 million in project investments. More than half of the awards will aid counties the N.C. Department of Commerce has identified as Tier 1, the state’s most economically distressed.
Bass explained both of the Richmond County grants were funded through the Clean Water Partnerships program.
“Both of these projects in Ellerbe and Hamlet were very critical for those communities,” Bass said. “In Ellerbe, wastewater regionalization is clearly the way to go, and we encourage regionalization because it makes more sense than every little town building its own wastewater plant.
“In Hamlet, the high hazard rating of that dam also clearly made that a deserving project.”
Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.
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