News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter has presented a plan for extending water lines to the western and eastern ends of the county.
Porter said Monday night that project funding could be obtained through a Community Development Block Grant.
The commission will consider applying for the Community Development Block Grant when they meet on Tuesday, January 22nd.
“My goal with this water project is for us to start applying for these grants to try to extend those water lines,” Porter said. “I’ve talked to Double Springs, Baxter, and Algood. All three of those would be willing-if we got the grant and built the lines-to take the water line over and maintain it going forward.”
Porter said the grant funding would be used to extend lines to either Green Mountain Road, Shaw Branch Road, or McBroom Branch Road.
“We’ve been looking at those three roads with the development district to see if those roads meet the requirements for a CDBG,” Porter said. “To meet the requirements, a certain amount of households on that road have to be below a certain level of income.”
Porter said the county would be required to match 15-percent of the total grant amount.
“Our grant match, if we apply for this grant, would be somewhere around $92,000 or $93,000,” Porter said. “I think it’s a small price for us to pay to get a $600,000 plus grant to extend the water lines.”
The Putnam County Commission will consider applying for the Community Development Block Grant when they meet on Tuesday, January 22nd.
Porter said there are about 700 plus addresses in Putnam County that do not have access to public utility water.
“There’s also some other grants that are available out there that I’m going to be looking for us to apply for,” Porter said. “If we can’t get grants, I want to work with the water utility districts and municipalities to see what we can do in the future to try to start expanding the water lines.”
Porter said his goal is to have water available to every citizen in the county.
