Timmonsville to improve sewer with grant of nearly $672,000

By Charles Tomlinson
Lake City News & Post Editor
Published: October 29, 2008

Timmonsville plans to improve a main sewer line with a $671,747 Community Development Block Grant, the largest competitive infrastructure grant the S.C. Department of Commerce awarded during its July funding round.

The grant will allow the town to upgrade a portion of its 15-inch concrete primary gravity sewer line, which feeds collected sewage to the town’s wastewater treatment plant, according to a press release from the Pee Dee Regional Council of Governments.

Community Development Block Grants, which are used to serve low-to-moderate-income people, are required to increase economic competitiveness, sustain communities or eliminate a health threat, which Timmonsville’s grant will do, said Shannon Munoz, the council of governments’ community development director.

The town’s sewer project will benefit 2,354 people, nearly 60 percent of which are low-to-moderate-income residents, according to the press release.

The state normally places a $500,000 cap on Community Development Block Grants used for infrastructure projects, Munoz said. Timmonsville, however, applied for and received a waiver allowing the town to exceed the funding limit.

In addition, Munoz said, the state also gave Timmonsville a waiver so that the town wouldn’t have to provide a 25 percent local match for its grant.

The Commerce Department’s Grants Administration staff members have held meetings in Timmonsville to determine the project’s scope, according to the press release. They worked with Mayor James Beard Jr. and town grants consultant Deloris Pringle, who held the required community hearings on the project.
Munoz wrote the grant application and will administer the project for the town.

Beard couldn’t be reached for comment by press time Wednesday.

Timmonsville now will complete an environmental review and hire an engineer for the sewer improvements.

The town must spend its grant funds for the project by July 2010, according to a press release.