LaMoille gets stimulus dollars

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LAMOILLE — Bureau County communities ranging from Arlington to Wyanet have been looking for federal stimulus dollars, and last week, LaMoille learned it was one of the first four communities in the state to actually receive some of that money.

LaMoille Mayor Mike Pinter and officials from Pecatonica, Rockford and Dixon heard the good news from Illinois EPA Director Doug Scott in Pecatonica Thursday. He announced the award of grants and loans for waste water and drinking water projects, using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or stimulus funds. The funds come through the Illinois EPA’s State Revolving Fund infrastructure program authorized earlier this year by the Congress and President Barack Obama.

LaMoille will receive $211,000 in a loan/grant combination to upgrade its public water system. The upgrade will include two new 150-gallons per minute iron pressure removal filters, two new high service pumps and a backwash storage tank to be connected to the sanitary sewer system. These improvements will assure an adequate supply of drinking water for the future and will improve the aesthetics of the water by eliminating iron content that stains fixtures and causes “red water” problems.

Due to the overwhelming demand, LaMoille and the other communities were fortunate to be included. The list of communities initially requesting funds included 746 projects totaling $3.24 billion for waste water projects and 895 projects totaling $1.46 billion for drinking water projects. Illinois EPA anticipates receiving only $180 million for waste water projects and $80 million for drinking water projects through ARRA.

On Monday, Pinter said the village had been working hard to get the final piece of the puzzle necessary to repair and update its water supply. In September 2008, the village learned it would receive $324,000 in a Community Development Assistance Program public infrastructure grant to redo its water treatment plant. Village officials welcomed the news of the grant, but it only covered three-fourths of the project.

Now the village has the rest of the money it needs.

“The only way small towns can afford to do projects like this is by getting grants and low-interest loans,” Pinter said.

Pinter said when he received word to come to a presentation in Pecatonica, he wasn’t told what it was for.

“I was very surprised to find LaMoille would receive $211,000,” he said. “Twenty-five percent of the money was a grant, and the balance was a no-interest loan. That interest is a lot of money for a small town.”

Pinter said the village put the project out for bids around the first of the year, and tentatively accepted the low bid in March. Final acceptance of the bid is dependent up getting the money officially in place, and so now he and village officials are waiting on the IEPA.

Pinter said the village hoped to have started the project by now, but now, thanks to the stimulus funds, he’s looking at the middle of the summer.

“The money kind of surprised me,” he said. “I’m just glad we were able to get this for our water supply.”