Wallace City Council to submit grant application next week
The city of Wallace is seeking a community block grant to secure funds that will help repair the Wallace pool. Estimated costs for the repair have ranged from $450,000 to more than $800,000.
Courtesy photo
WALLACE –– A community forum was held on Wednesday night for residents of Wallace to discuss the city’s intent to pursue a $225,000 community block grant through the Panhandle Area Council to repair the Wallace City Pool.
According to the Panhandle Area Council (PAC), in order to be eligible Wallace needed to complete an income survey that showed that the city’s households are at least 51% low-to-moderate income (LMI).
Although the public interest at the forum was minimal, it did give the City Council the ability to review the grant application, as well as get any clarification that they were missing from PAC.
The Wallace City Council voted in favor of pursuing the grant during a special session in early July, with a deadline of September 21 to apply for the grant.
It is undetermined if Wallace will get the full amount that they are seeking, but that potential $225,000, paired with the money that the City already had, should put them over the $500,000 amount, which was the amount that was originally estimated to fix the pool.
Wallace City Councilwoman Branstetter is hopeful about the City’s chances, but also recognizes that with Federal grant monies the project process can be slower than it would be with private funds.
She also mentioned that with grants there are no guarantees.
“The grant isn't a given, it's very competitive this year but I believe we will have a good chance,” Branstetter said. “We should hear back by next month and then the updated schedule is that we would send it (the project) back out for bid in February but probably couldn't have the construction completed until October 2021, sadly. But at least we are getting somewhere.”
There are still some questions surrounding the cost of fixing the pool.
Just before the COVID boom hit the United States, the City Council had rejected a $818,260 bid from contractor S&L Underground.
At the June council meeting, three options for the pool were discussed, including doing the bare minimum to get the pool opened, starting the project demolition and then putting the project out in different phases, or not starting the project until the City has the funds to complete the project. Wallace City Engineer Jim Roletto advised the City that options one and two would end up costing Wallace more money.
The 2020 season is the third year in row that Wallace’s Pool has been unable to open after the pool kept losing large amounts of water overnight.
In 2019 the City hired engineering firm Terracon to take a look at the pool and give them an idea of the cost that would surround repairing the pool.
Terracon estimated $450,000, while Roletto thought it would be more around the half-million realm.
The Idaho Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG) assists Idaho cities and counties with the development of needed public infrastructure.
The program is administered by Idaho Commerce with funds received annually from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Idaho CDBG funds are used to construct projects benefiting low- and moderate-income persons, help prevent or eliminate slum and blight conditions, or mitigate health and safety threats in local areas.