420px-Whooping_Cranes_USFWS

Seadrift council hears updates on grants

BY EMILY ALLEN
Published:
Thursday, February 11, 2010 8:15 PM CST
SEADRIFT – The Seadrift City Council heard an update on the city’s on-going grant applications and potential grant projects during its regularly-scheduled meeting Feb. 2.

Mayor Elmer DeForest presented information about eight different grants, five of which have been previously finalized. The three remain in the application process. The city recently applied for the $1.5 million Community Development Block Grant – Desalination Demonstration Pilot Project (CDBG-DDPP), which focuses on the process of reverse osmosis desalination and storage using wind-generated power.

“Since the city already uses reverse osmosis, it’d be a very simple step to increase the size of our R.O. (reverse osmosis) plant,” DeForest said. “Desalination isn’t necessarily just for the water from the bay; the water that come from the ground has to go through the R.O. process.”

In addition to the initial project, the city also added a solar panel project to help recover downstream wastewater. While the plant creates 100,000 gallons of drinking water per day, DeForest said it also discharges 30,000 gallons of water per day into the bay. Using the project would allow the city to recover some of the wastewater in the process and save money.

“This is a process that was added onto the grant to enhance its applicability of what they were looking for,” DeForest said. “It would recover a percentage of that waste stream, but we don’t know what that percentage would be yet.”

Seadrift is also waiting to see if the city has received the $500,000 State Energy Conservation Office – Distributed Renewable Energy Technology Projects (SECO-DRETP) grant or the $550,000 Community Development Block Grant – Renewable Energy Demonstration Pilot Project (CBDG-REDPP) grant. DeForest said either grant would allow the city to install a wind generator at the sewer plant to provide power to the plant rather than using power off the grid; the council expects to hear about the first grant within 10 to 15 days, but is not taking chances.

“The REDPP is the one that would probably be awarded in May, so if the SECO doesn’t come through until May then we’d just have to choose which one on those two,” DeForest said. “They’re basically identical grants, except one is administered by Texas Department of Rural Affairs versus the State Energy Conservation Office.”

Other projects moving forward include the $619,000 Texas Capital Fund – Sewer/Water Infrastructure grant for Swan Point Landing, which will create 32 jobs. The CDBG Homes grant is still working to finalize and approve the five families selected to have their homes rebuilt.

The $250,000 CDBG Water and Sewer Improvements grant has been awarded and is waiting for final engineering before advertising for bids can be done; the $160,000 CDBG – Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to place the TCEQ required backup generator at the sewer plant will also have bids released soon. The SECO – Energy Efficiency Community Development Block Grant totaling $20,000 has also been awarded for energy efficiency upgrades to the Civic Center and City Hall.

The council voted on the final approval of the plat for Sandhill Subdivision, which DeForest said was submitted with some changes to the drainage plan to coincide with the elevation studies that were previously performed.

The council also voted to approve a resolution regarding the upcoming city officials election. The election was set for Saturday, May 8, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Martha Madden was appointed election judge. Council members Wesley Hunt, Robert Chatham and Wesley Cunningham, along with Mayor DeForest, are up for re-election; the candidate-filing period begins Feb. 6 and ends March 8.

The police department issued a report saying there were 76 calls for service in January, nine incident reports for theft, burglary of a building, possession of alcohol by a minor, stolen water services and one suicide. Of 15 traffic stops during the month, eight citations were written.



Link to Port Lavaca Wave Story