Coronavirus relief | Water-related projects likely on tap for Arcola's federal funds

Deb Pressey, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
·2 min read

Oct. 16—ARCOLA — Arcola's decades-old water tower needs a paint job.

And that's one of the city's top two projects that could potentially get done next year, courtesy of Arcola's about $300,000 share of federal funding in the coronavirus relief bill that Congress passed in March, according to city Administrator Bill Wagoner.

The other top project on Arcola's wish list would be replacing more of the city's aging water mains and service lines to homes, he said.

"That covers things we need that we probably wouldn't get to right away," Wagoner said.

The $1.9 trillion federal relief package includes $350 billion in federal grants going to cities, towns, villages and counties across the country.

Whether communities are getting under $100,000 or many millions of dollars, the grants are providing opportunities to fund projects that otherwise wouldn't fit into local budgets.

The grants are being paid out over two years, and Arcola has already received the first half of the money, Wagoner said.

The Arcola City Council won't likely make a decision until early next year on how to spend the city's federal funding, he said.

City officials are probably going to get price estimates on both the water-service-line replacements and water-tower paint job and will probably choose the project that best matches available money, Wagoner said.

The water tower was built in 1996-97, and exterior paint is coming off in chunks, he said.

It needs to be sandblasted and painted, a job that would likely use up all of Arcola's federal funds "and more," Wagoner said.

About two-third of Arcola's water-main and service lines (the pipes that run from mains to individual homes) still need to be replaced, including about 150 remaining lead-lined service lines, Wagoner said.

The cost of work on a single block runs about $80,000, depending on the number of homes, he said.

If the city council commits to a project for use of the federal money early next year, work on the selected project could likely begin in the summer or fall, Wagoner said.