State awards funding for Park County’s septic project, Powell’s HVAC upgrades

Posted 3/30/23

Another $3.1 million in federal aid will soon flow to Park County to help improve some HVAC systems in Powell, a septage facility in Cody for rural residents and a water treatment plant in Meeteetse. …

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State awards funding for Park County’s septic project, Powell’s HVAC upgrades

Posted

Another $3.1 million in federal aid will soon flow to Park County to help improve some HVAC systems in Powell, a septage facility in Cody for rural residents and a water treatment plant in Meeteetse. However, a City of Cody effort to replace old water lines was passed over.

The funds, which come from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), were awarded on Feb. 27 and 28 by the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB). The SLIB had $50 million available for capital projects proposed by cities, towns, counties and tribal councils. It wound up receiving 97 applications that sought a total of $180 million.

Sorting through the requests meant scoring them on a system that factored in the size and median income of the population being served by the project (the smaller the better), the percentage of the cost being picked up by the applicant (the highest the better) and, among several other considerations, how many ARPA dollars they’d already received (the fewer the better). To qualify, each proposal needed to address “identifiable harm caused or exacerbated by COVID-19.”

Eligible projects that were unrelated to water or wastewater were given a higher priority, which boosted the City of Powell’s application. The city’s $420,000 request for HVAC-related work was among a small handful that rose to the top of the list and were approved with no debate. Powell’s project — which was going to go forward regardless of whether the state paid for it — involves replacing and upgrading the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at city hall, the Powell Police Department and The Commons.

Meanwhile, the Town of Meeteetse’s $671,008 application for water treatment plant upgrades also received a quick OK, because it ranked highly and was under $1 million.

However, the five state officials on the panel — Gov. Mark Gordon, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, Treasurer Curt Meier, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder and Auditor Kristi Racines — had a longer debate over Park County’s $2 million request and the City of Cody’s $2.5 million request to replace old water lines.

   

Receiving septage

The county’s project is part of an effort to replace its aging sewer lagoons. Located just outside Cody city limits on Rocky Road, the lagoons hold “septage” — that is, sewage pumped out of rural residents’ septic systems; the private haulers in the county have dumped their loads of waste at the site for at least 50 years.

However, as the county has grown and the amount of human waste has increased, “these lagoons are starting to fail,” Park County Commissioner Lee Livingston explained to the board.

“We’ve bandaged them, held them together,” Livingston said, but now feel it’s time to replace the facilities.

The county considered upgrading the current lagoons, but decided it would ultimately make more sense to have the septage delivered to Cody’s new sewage treatment facility. 

“We just feel with the population going the direction it’s going — with the City of Cody and the county of Park — that it would be beneficial to have one central wastewater treatment facility,” Livingston said. 

Added Park County Engineer Brian Edwards, “environmentally, it makes a lot of sense to combine these.”

On top of that, commissioners have said that closing and reclaiming the lagoons will open the land for potential development.

The ponds will ultimately be self-sustaining, funded by fees charged to the haulers (and, in turn, their customers) who use the city’s facility. But first, Cody’s plant must be modified to accommodate septage, and that’s going to cost an estimated $4 million. Park County initially asked for SLIB to pick up 74% of the start-up cost ($2.96 million), but after that request was rejected last fall, the commission suggested splitting the project with the state 50-50.

That the county “added some skin to the game” helped win over Auditor Racines, who supported the $2 million in funding. 

Treasurer Meier was a no vote, noting the county had already received millions of dollars in ARPA funding, “a pretty good chunk per capita.” Meier preferred to award $1 million.

   

Cody water lines

The remainder of the board supported Park County’s sewage project, but concerns about too many dollars going to the county led them to shelve Cody’s request for water system upgrades.

The city is looking to replace a series of water lines in a part of town known as the “tree streets” and surrounding neighborhoods. The current lines, primarily made of cast iron and ductile iron pipe, were installed in the 1970s and early 1980s and are deteriorating, said the city’s public works director and engineer, Phillip Bowman.

As Cody plans for an overhaul of its entire distribution system — and continues to raise its water rates accordingly — the tree streets and nearby areas rose to the top of the list; they’ve seen frequent line breaks and low water pressure, Bowman said.

“We are trying to fully fund our own infrastructure, but see this as an opportunity to help us kick off with our No. 1 project and get that completed and constructed in 2024 and 2025,” he said.

The board didn’t approve the funding request last month, but Secretary Gray noted additional federal dollars are coming for water and sewer projects. In fact, that was one reason why Superintendent Degenfelder hesitated about funding either of the local requests. She also noted the City of Cody and Park County initially did not have representatives available to answer questions when the projects were brought up for discussion.

“We just have so many others to hear from that have traveled very far and made a point to be here at the beginning of the meeting,” Degenfelder said.

At one point, with state staffers unable to reach Park County and Cody representatives over the span of some time, Gordon quipped that, “I think Yellowstone is due for a big eruption or something.”

However, an apologetic Commissioner Livingston ultimately arrived in person and Edwards and Bowman joined the Feb. 28 meeting remotely.

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