“On the federal side we are kind of in a quandary,” Tomson said
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The Blackwater Public Service District discussed plans for a public meeting on the PSD’s waste water treatment plant project at their February 25th meeting at the Davis Town Hall. At the meeting, Board Member Judy Cronauer was present with Al Tomson attending via phone and Jody Flanagan was absent.
Tomson said a lot of the public meeting discussion would be based on the proposed rates for the municipalities of Davis and Thomas. “In the public meeting, we would like to have a discussion with regards to potential rates for Davis and Thomas,” Tomson said. “And part of being able to reach that point, is to know first of all, what your options are and the options are heavily dependent upon money so it effects the decision making with regards to which course of action we want to pursue going forward.”
Tomson said that one of the largest sources of funding for projects such as a new treatment plant for the PSD, would be Congressionally Directed Funding or Earmarks from the Federal Government. Tomson said that there is a lot of confusion right now surrounding federal money that has affected the project and their decisions moving forward. “Once we have picked a course of action, then we have to figure out how do we fund that particular solution which is very difficult right now because we don’t know…particularly what is going on with federal money,” Tomson said.
Tomson said the Board was “in a quandary” on the subject of federal funding and what the future of federal funds would be for municipal improvement projects such as the PSD’s. “On the federal side we are kind of in a quandary,” Tomson said. “We really have little idea or speculation about what the future holds with the major components of funding.”
Tomson said that the PSD is attempting to get to a place where they can narrow down a range for rates to release to the public at a public meeting. According to Tomson, it will likely be a general statement with not specific details available. “So we are trying to get to a position where we can say something about rates,” Tomson said. “It may be that it is a very general statement. I don’t think its going to be specific in nature. We’re not going to be able to say the rate is going to be X amount of dollars.”
Tomson said that the lead engineers on the project, RK&K are working on phasing the project further to lower the overall cost. The measure will also bring component parts of the phases closer together further helping the board to make informed decisions on the project that focus on factors such as location, transportation of leachate and not simply on money.
The Blackwater Public Service District said they are looking at a time frame of April for a public meeting on the project.
