July 10, 2017
HORNELL, NY – According to Mayor Shawn Hogan, it’s Consolidated Funding application time in which local governments have to submit applications for grants for various projects they plan on undertaking.
Some of the grants the city will be going after are a $20,000 Wastewater Infrastructure Engineering Planning Grant. The Mayor said the city has been informed by the DEC that they will have to add another step in treating wastewater fluent with ultraviolet light. This step will further disinfect the water before it enters back into the environment.
“This isn’t a cheap deal,” said the Mayor, “You’re looking at a $1.5 to $2 million dollar project and they expect us to be in compliance by 2018.”
Also the city plans on doing more trenchless technology in which a hired contractor goes into major trunk (sewage) lines throughout the city and blows a hard plastic like substance throughout the pipe to reinforce it. Hogan hopes that this will greatly reduce situations like what happened on Erie Avenue a few years back that turned out to be a major expense/inconvenience for city residents.
The mayor also said he has his fingers crossed in hopes of receiving a $10 million DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) grant. That went to Elmira last year and according to Hogan there is some major competition for it. He continued, “We will be going up against communities such as Watkins Glen and Ithaca, and we should know something hopefully by the end of the month.”
