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| PUA water plant online this summer |
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| News - Community News | |||
| Written by Brian McCauley | |||
| Wednesday, 07 January 2009 08:00 | |||
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Paola and Louisburg officials may be celebrating the Fourth of July this year by gaining a little independence of their own in the water market. The two cities have been working on a multi-million-dollar water project for more than a year, and members of the Marais des Cygnes Public Utility Authority announced Monday that the new water plant southeast of Paola should be operational and treating water by the Fourth of July. Larry Williams of Bartlett and West Engineers said the target date previously was Memorial Day, but the contractor is running a bit behind. According to PUA officials, the water plant is 52 percent complete, the intake off the Marais des Cygnes River is 91 percent complete and all 17 miles of pipeline connecting the plant to two new towers is finished. Williams said the metal structure of the main building at the plant site is starting to take shape. “They should finish the framework of the building this week,” he said at Monday’s meeting. “There’s a lot going on.” The progress is being made thanks to the weather, which Williams said wasn’t near as kind last winter. Despite the progress, the officials still have much to accomplish before the system is operational. Paola City Clerk Dan Droste informed the officials the project’s construction budget is becoming tighter than expected thanks to a misunderstanding of where interest from the construction fund would be allotted as well as lost interest earnings from a $2.5 million debt service reserve required for the project. The project is being funded by about $33 million in water facilities revenue bonds. The PUA is required to maintain $2.5 million in reserve funds throughout the 30-year life of the bonds, and that money had been invested through an agreement with MBIA, Inc., with the PUA generating additional funds at an interest rate of almost 5 percent. When MBIA’s rating recently was downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service, the PUA was required to reinvest the funds. PUA officials voted Monday to reinvest the $2.5 million using Citizen’s State Bank of Paola at an interest rate of 1.81 percent. The officials also discussed the need to create a plan as to how the pipelines will be tested before the plant is operational. If the cities cannot get enough clean water to the plant to test the lines, the project may be delayed to wait until the plant can handle the task. Louisburg City Administrator Jeff Cantrell will be a part of the PUA’s planning process going forward, as the board members voted Monday to officially make Cantrell a member of the board, replacing former Louisburg City Administrator Ted Hayden.
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