Large grant riding on the return of city surveys

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Surveys were mailed late last week by the City of Mt. Pleasant in its quest for a $600,000 community development block grant (CDBG) to help fund the $2 million Jay Street sanitary sewer project.

City Administrator Brent Schleisman said it is imperative that residents receiving surveys, return them. ?We need an 80-percent return rate to qualify (for the grant),? Schleisman said. ?These surveys are really important because if we don?t get the $600,000 grant, that $600,000 will then be on the backs of utility customers.?

He said that through a random selection process, 325 surveys were mailed to city residents. Surveys also are available at city hall, the library, Fellowship Cup and Mt. Pleasant Chamber office.

The sanitary sewer work is mandated by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). ?We have no choice, by 2020, we have to upgrade the sanitary sewer,? Schleisman said.

Basically, the project will route sewer flow currently being handled by the waste treatment plant on the northeast part of the city to the plant in southwest Mt. Pleasant.

The city administrator said the Jay Street project is the first phase of a four-phase project which will cost a total of $7M-$10M.

Mt. Pleasant did qualify for a similar grant two years ago but did not receive it ? largely because it did not have an IDNR timeline established for the project, Schleisman said. ?The timeline carries a lot of weight and it is a very competitive process to receive the grant.?

Approximately 8-12 state communities annually receive the CDBG that Mt. Pleasant is applying for, Schleisman noted.

Of the grant responses, 50 percent of the respondents have to be in the low- to moderate income range. ?That is easily attainable,? the city administrator said, ?just look at the demographics of Iowa.?

If Mt. Pleasant receives the grant response rate it needs, it will apply for the grant in November. The Jay Street project is expected to start next fall and be finished in the summer of 2017.