LAPEL — Whether Lapel’s next attempt to secure an Office of Community and Rural Affairs Grant (OCRA) is successful, the town plans to move forward on a more than $4 million water improvement plan.
Lapel Town Council conducted a public hearing to discuss its grant application at its most recent meeting Oct. 15.
Mike Kleinpeter of Whiteland-based Kleinpeter Consulting, the town’s grant administrator, said Lapel’s application for an OCRA grant of $700,000 will be submitted Nov. 20. OCRA announces awarded grants on Dec. 15.
Along with the grant application, the town plans to use $66,000 from the water operating fund and seek a loan from Indiana State Revolving Loan Fund of $3,955,200, for a total grant match of $4,021,200.
Robert Bellucci of Indiana-polis-based Commonwealth Engineers, the town consultant for the project, detailed the work to be done to improve the town’s water, which includes cleaning existing wells, replacing the pump and other upgrades at the Fourth Street well, improvements at the water treatment plant and a new mixing system that is to improve water quality.
In addition, a study will identify sites for future wells, flag substandard piping for replacement and determine other possible enhancements for the town’s water system.
“The project itself is a fairly significant undertaking,” Bellucci said. “I would like to commend the council for taking these steps.”
Lapel has been denied OCRA grants to improve the town’s water multiple times in the past two years, though none of those applications included matching grants near $4 million.
After failing to obtain an OCRA grant applied for at the end of 2019, the town sat out the last round to reevaluate their project, including bringing on a new consulting firm, Commonwealth Engineers.
“We know that this is a problem that has been building over the years,” Lapel town council President Chad Blake said. “This year, instead of going for the same grant we have been going for over and over again, we decided to back up and throw the Hail Mary, see what we can get on this and really make a massive impact on the water quality for the town.”
Blake added that with the SRF loan, which he said comes at a very low interest rate and refinancing of water bonds, the town plans to move forward even if it is again denied the OCRA grant.
“If we don’t get the grant, we will still move forward,” answered Blake to a concerned citizen of the town. “We’re going forward, so, there is end in sight.”
Bellucci said once funding is secured they would be on an aggressive schedule, noting if financing is there at the beginning of the year it would not be unreasonable by late summer early fall to be soliciting bids for the projects, with the hopes of construction beginning in August or September 2021.
CCMG application
A representative from Indianapolis-based Kimley-Horn, a planning and design engineering consultant working with the town on its road improvements, discussed with the board specific roads and financing to be part of an application for a state Community Crossings Matching Grant.
On the list of roads to repair include County Road 200 South, Vine Street, 10th Street, Ash Way, Beechwood Drive, Briar Drive, Oakmont Drive, County Road 950 West (Brookside Road) and County Road 500 South (Alliance Road).
The grant application would be for $932,600 with a match from the town of $233,150. The town voted to use $65,000 of its Cascadden Fund, which is comprised of monies bequeathed to the town by a late resident Olivia Cascadden, to be used for the project.
South Madison Community Foundation
Unable to choose between two school programs to receive funds from the South Madison Community Foundation, the council voted to give to both programs, using the town’s Cascadden Fund to give each group $1,075.
The council awarded the $1,075 of community foundation funds to Lapel Middle School Robotics Club.
The council matched that amount from the Cascadden Fund to give to the Bulldog Backpark Sponsorship Program, which provides food on weekends to elementary students.