FLORA —
The Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs awarded the town of Flora half a million dollars to fund most of a $700,000 wastewater project planned for the northern section of town.
The project will keep the town from having to raise sewer rates to fund wastewater line replacements and manhole reconstruction, said town council president Josh Ayres. The town had a plan for how to foot the remainder of the project cost, he added.
Flora was one of 38 Indiana communities, and the only one in Carroll County, that received a total of more than $16 million in Community Focus Fund grants this fall, according to an OCRA spokesman. Sixty-eight communities applied for the funds.
This year was the town’s fourth try for the grant, which will be used to replace 8,420 linear feet of wastewater lines and reconstruct three dozen sanitary manholes.
Ayres said the town has been on a “sewer ban” since 1974, meaning the state Department of Environmental Management prohibits hooking up more than one single-family dwelling at a time.
The sewer ban is intended to keep rainwater from overwhelming the town’s wastewater treatment plant during a rainstorm. Improvements have been made over the years, Ayres said, to try to bring the wastewater infrastructure up to the point where the sewer ban is no longer needed.
“We have been trying to fix that situation since 1974,” Ayres said. “This is one more step so we can get us so that we’re not under that ban.”
However, this is the first wastewater project that the town has received a grant for. In the past, the town council has had to raise wastewater rates, a move Ayres was reluctant to repeat.
Council has raised wastewater rates just once in the last 11 years, he said. He characterized rates now as falling in the “high middle” when compared to rates at similarly sized Indiana towns. He’d rather keep it that way.
Flora’s grant is one of several that Carroll County towns have won in the last few years, according to Laura Walls, executive director of the Carroll County Economic Development Corporation. The Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission applied for Flora’s grant and others on behalf of its member communities.
“From an economic development standpoint, it really puts Flora in a position to be competitive for future development,” Walls said of the grant. Lots available for industrial development in Flora’s existing industrial park and along Ind. 75, where the county economic development corporation has an 80-acre option, would have been a challenge — at best — to develop without these upgrades, she said.
“Getting these upgrades in infrastructure and maybe getting the sewer ban lifted will make development at these sites possible,” said Walls.
The town hired Lafayette-based T-Bird Engineering to start planning how best to use the grant funds. Ayres hopes work will begin sometime next spring or summer
“We’re really, really grateful to get this grant to help us with this,” Ayres added. “We’re working pretty hard here to get things right.”
Local News
Flora receives $500k grant for wastewater project
Council president hopes project will solve long-time problem.
- Local News
-
-
Delphi’s Bowen House added to list of endangered properties
A historic Victorian mansion in Delphi, once the home of a successful merchant and a professional wrestler, has been added to an Indiana preservation organization’s list of endangered landmarks.
-
City, engineers assessing Sixth Street buildings
The Logansport building commissioner is working with an engineering firm to establish the future of three connected buildings on North Sixth Street after part of one of them had to be demolished last month.
-
State called leader, laggard in new economic report card
A newly released report card on where Indiana ranks nationally in key economic measures shows the state is both “a leader and a laggard” in areas that signal potential for more prosperity.
-
LHS students turn in laptops at year's end
After a year of 1,250 laptops carried in student backpacks, in classrooms and to homes, Logansport High School is reporting a good turn-in rate and a great year of academic achievements.
-
Company invests $1.1 million in Miami Co.
A Logansport-based company is investing $1.1 million to expand its operations into a facility north of Peru. The company said it will bring more than 30 jobs to the county.
-
Career center gets $15K grant
Students at the Century Career Center will be able to print out 3D models of their drawings next fall due to a $15,000 state grant.
-
Boost in education funding won’t benefit all schools
In the budget bill passed by the General Assembly last month, there is more money allocated for K-12 education over the next two years, but that doesn’t mean every school will get more dollars.
-
Playing with food
Two foods classes at Lewis Cass Junior-Senior High School got crafty with their food last week following family and consumer science teacher Courtney Nethercutt’s lead.
-
Unclaimed property amounts to millions in Indiana
There are millions of dollars in Indiana, the rightful owners of which cannot be located. A program through the Indiana Attorney General’s office is trying to get that property into the right hands.
-
Fulton Community Center completed
Almost a decade in the making, the Fulton Community Center is up and running.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Officials: Tsarnaev Friend Linked to Slaying
Obama:Sexual Assault Threatens Trust in Military
Bridge Collapse Survivor: 'Rough Day'
Jersey Shore Open for Business
Raw: Memorial Day Flags Placed at Arlington
New Wheelchair Lift Promises More Access
First Person: Mom Discusses Famous Tornado Photo
Raw Video: Washington State Bridge Collapse
Boy Scouts Approve Plan to Accept Gay Boys
Officials: Truck Hit Bridge Before Collapse
Sheriff: No Sign Killing of 2 Kids Was Planned
Obama Defends Drone Strikes, With Limits
Raw: Jurors Deadlock on Jodi Arias Penalty
Boy Scouts Decision "First Step" Say Activists
Raw: Utah Teen Arrested in Death of His Brothers
Closer Look at Okla. School Where Children Died
Two Suspects in Murder Known to London Police
"Be Ready": NOAA Warns of Busy Hurricane Season
SeaWorld: Penguins Are Coolest Thing in Florida
