Kimberling City receives $130,000 in grants for city improvements
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Two grants, totalling $105,000, will help fill one of the city's biggest needs: Improving the wastwater treatment system.
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Kimberling City received money through KaBOOM, a grant program specifically for playground equipment, to complete a park on Lakeshore Drive.
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April 22, 2021
Kadee Brosseau DeCourley
The City of Kimberling City has received $130,000 total in grant funding from the beginning of 2020 until now. The money is being used to improve the wastewater treatment system, build a park, and reimburse the city for expenses for COVID-19 efforts.
City Administrator Jerry Harman said two grants, totalling $105,000, will help fill one of the city’s biggest needs: improving the wastewater treatment system.
A grant from the Missouri Public Utility Alliance will focus on the collection portion of the system.
“That grant was for $57,000 and the city did not have to match any money on that, which was great,” Harman said. "That's an evaluation of the sewer collection system. Then, the 14 lift stations that we have. It also includes an analysis of our grinder pumps. We have over 750 grinder pumps that are over 15 years old."
He said the analysis is the first step in improving the collection system overall.
"What this is really telling us is 'Hey, this is the condition of your system. This is what we think you should be concentrating on with your capital improvements. This is what you should probably be budgeting in the future,'” Harman said.
A $48,000 grant from the Small Community Engineering Assistance Program through the Department of Natural Resources will help improve the wastewater treatment plant specifically.
"It will evaluate the equipment that's currently there and give us recommendations for capital improvements in the future and what those costs may be,” Harman said.
Harman said the wastewater treatment facility is more than 30 years old. The evaluation of the plant will include an inflow and infiltration study. That’s a process in which smoke testing is used to detect leaks in the system, which can save the city money over time.
"Anytime you're treating gallons of water, it costs more,” Harman said. "So, when the system has leaks and rainwater and stormwater gets into the system, you're treating water that you don't really need to treat. So, the smoke testing and the inflow and infiltration study will tell us the areas in the system that we need to fix.”
Kimberling City had to put an additional $12,000 toward this study, along with the $48,000 it received through the grant. Harman said that was still a good deal for the city.
However, the city isn’t only making improvements to the wastewater treatment system with recent grant funds. It also received money through KaBOOM, a grant program specifically for playground equipment, to complete a park on Lakeshore Drive. The park opened in June.
“It paid for $15,000 worth equipment. The city did have to match $8,000,” Harman said.
Finally, the city received a total of $18,000 for COVID relief. $3,900 of that funding came from the Cares Act.
"That's just replacing the cost that the city had to use on PPE, cleaning supplies. Then, there were some lost wages for people who were under quarantine, some staff,” Harman said.
$14,100 came from FEMA’s COVID-19 Relief. That money will help reimburse the city for police salaries, including overtime pay.
"They got called out on a lot more medical alerts. They had to spend a lot more on PPE. It covered overtime. That all had to be detailed out and reported to FEMA,” Harman said.
Harman said many hours were spent on applying for these funds. He said city leaders are looking forward to the improvements already made and those that will be made in the future, with the help of this funding.
Kadee Brosseau DeCourley
The City of Kimberling City has received $130,000 total in grant funding from the beginning of 2020 until now. The money is being used to improve the wastewater treatment system, build a park, and reimburse the city for expenses for COVID-19 efforts.
City Administrator Jerry Harman said two grants, totalling $105,000, will help fill one of the city’s biggest needs: improving the wastewater treatment system.
A grant from the Missouri Public Utility Alliance will focus on the collection portion of the system.
“That grant was for $57,000 and the city did not have to match any money on that, which was great,” Harman said. "That's an evaluation of the sewer collection system. Then, the 14 lift stations that we have. It also includes an analysis of our grinder pumps. We have over 750 grinder pumps that are over 15 years old."
He said the analysis is the first step in improving the collection system overall.
"What this is really telling us is 'Hey, this is the condition of your system. This is what we think you should be concentrating on with your capital improvements. This is what you should probably be budgeting in the future,'” Harman said.
A $48,000 grant from the Small Community Engineering Assistance Program through the Department of Natural Resources will help improve the wastewater treatment plant specifically.
"It will evaluate the equipment that's currently there and give us recommendations for capital improvements in the future and what those costs may be,” Harman said.
Harman said the wastewater treatment facility is more than 30 years old. The evaluation of the plant will include an inflow and infiltration study. That’s a process in which smoke testing is used to detect leaks in the system, which can save the city money over time.
"Anytime you're treating gallons of water, it costs more,” Harman said. "So, when the system has leaks and rainwater and stormwater gets into the system, you're treating water that you don't really need to treat. So, the smoke testing and the inflow and infiltration study will tell us the areas in the system that we need to fix.”
Kimberling City had to put an additional $12,000 toward this study, along with the $48,000 it received through the grant. Harman said that was still a good deal for the city.
However, the city isn’t only making improvements to the wastewater treatment system with recent grant funds. It also received money through KaBOOM, a grant program specifically for playground equipment, to complete a park on Lakeshore Drive. The park opened in June.
“It paid for $15,000 worth equipment. The city did have to match $8,000,” Harman said.
Finally, the city received a total of $18,000 for COVID relief. $3,900 of that funding came from the Cares Act.
"That's just replacing the cost that the city had to use on PPE, cleaning supplies. Then, there were some lost wages for people who were under quarantine, some staff,” Harman said.
$14,100 came from FEMA’s COVID-19 Relief. That money will help reimburse the city for police salaries, including overtime pay.
"They got called out on a lot more medical alerts. They had to spend a lot more on PPE. It covered overtime. That all had to be detailed out and reported to FEMA,” Harman said.
Harman said many hours were spent on applying for these funds. He said city leaders are looking forward to the improvements already made and those that will be made in the future, with the help of this funding.