Even though the grant proposals were turned in to the Golden LEAF Foundation before Monday’s regular meeting, City Manager Ray Griffin asked the Henderson City Council for its blessing on what city staff had already done.
According to Assistant City Manager Frank Frazier, the city has requested $500,000 from Golden LEAF to replace part of the $1.5 million grant for a UV disinfectant system for the waste water treatment plant.
The $1.5 million Clean Water Management Trust Fund grant was lost when North Carolina Governor Bev Purdue recalled the funds late in the state’s fiscal 2009 budget year.
Frazier told the council that $250,000 has been requested for sewer rehabilitation work, with a focus on the Sandy Creek Basin. The assistant city manager and engineer told members that $8 million in sewer rehabilitation work is needed, and that grant application and the concentration on Sandy Creek shows the state that the city is serious about compliance.
The city is currently under a special order of consent from the state because of infiltration and inflow problems with its sewer lines which has led to sewage flow into Sandy Creek Basin during times of heavy rain.
Henderson Fire Chief Danny Wilkerson told members that the city has also applied for $192,214 to upgrade its radio system to the 800 MHz standard to which the state is switching.
The grants will be discussed by the local Golden LEAF planning committee on Monday, August 17, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at Vance-Granville Community College. The meeting will be held in the small auditorium in Building 2 of the Vance campus.