Rocky Mount Sewer District DNR Loan Application Turned Down

Officials with the Rocky Mount Sewer District are now deciding what will be the next step after they are turned down by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for a loan that would have been used for a major sewer project.  The district was hoping to receive a Clean Water State Revolving Fund low interest loan for the sewer project that would serve 250 customers in the Rocky Mount area.  Other phases could be added on which would serve another 12 hundred customers.  In a letter to the district, DNR Director Sara Pauley noted several reasons why the loan would not be given including fluctuations in the user rate and the number of users, the need for the system to be operated by a licensed operator rather than volunteers and the district’s reluctance to get funding from the Community Block Grant program.  Pauley did say further development of the project could lead to the loan be given in the future.  Stan Schultz with Schultz Surveying and Engineering says they fought hard for the plan they presented and that things became confusing for everyone as they moved along in the process.  He says they will get a sewer project in the ground in Rocky Mount.