RISON - The City of Rison has been awarded more than $7 million in federal American Rescue Plan money to make improvements to the city's water and wastewater facilities, Mayor Charles Roberts announced Tuesday night.
Roberts noted there is no matching funds required from the city, and no payback required for the American Rescue Plan money, which is a program designed to help states and communities cope with issues related to the COVID pandemic.
The mayor announced the funding during Tuesday night's regular monthly meeting of the Rison City Council. He learned of the funding award in December but waited until he received official confirmation before publicly announcing it Tuesday night.
The city received the funding in three separate grants: $3.9 million to make improvements to the city's sewer treatment plant; $1.62 million to refurbish the city's water tanks; and $1.5 million to replace water lines in town. Roberts said the city has until December 2026 to complete the grant projects.
Joe Freyer, utilities manager for the City of Rison, went over what each grant will fund. Here is the overview of each grant project: • $3.9 million wastewater grant - Freyer said this is still in the planning stages. Roberts said he and Freyer had an extended meeting with an engineer from Hawkins-Weir Engineers, Inc. of Little Rock on Tuesday to develop a plan to improve the wastewater treatment facility on Hwy. 79. Freyer said there are several variables to consider, ranging from equipment to what types of disinfectants that will be used in the treatment process. Freyer said he would like have a contractor lined up to begin construction on the project by January 2024.
$1.62 million water tank grant - Freyer said this money will be used to completely refurbish both city water towers, including new paint, lights and monitoring equipment that can be accessed remotely via a cellular smart phone. He said he would also like to i...
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