The Schuylkill County Municipal Authority’s wait will be over today to see if they are awarded funding for a project.
The authority submitted a $6.4 million online application for funding Nov. 6, 2015, to the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Authority. Funds would be used to replace 11,000 residential meters and rehabilitate and repaint three water tanks, Park Basin, Mount Laurel No. 1 and Sharp Mountain No. 2.
The PennVEST board meets at 10:30 a.m. today at the Rachel Carson State Office Building, Harrisburg. Patrick Caulfield, executive director of the SCMA, said he and Amy Batdorf, authority assistant director, will attend the meeting. He said the board has been very successful in obtaining funding for other projects from PennVEST.
Board Chairman Frank Schoeneman, who was reinstated to the board position during Tuesday’s reorganization meeting, said obtaining the funding would be very beneficial to the authority.
“It needs to be said that if we can pull this off and get that loan, it would be a coup. It would be another feather in our cap of getting those kinds of funds lent to us in this ways, so keep your fingers crossed,” Schoeneman said.
“Keep your emails and your notebooks handy,” Caulfield told the board.
One member asked what happens if the funding is not approved.
“I think we look for alternative funding,” Batdorf said.
Caulfield said the work needs to be done and the maintenance is required.
“It becomes a question of how do you fund that,” he said.
If the news is not what they hope it will be, “we will have to do the work regardless,” Caulfield said.
Schoeneman explained that one of the tanks had visible rust on the outside.
Board member Frank Zukas asked if any thought had been given to advertising on the tanks as a way to get additional revenue.
“I think it’s right. I think it’s something we ought to look into,” Schoeneman said.
In other news, the board has a new member. Howard Merrick Jr. was at the meeting and will serve for a five-year term after having been appointed by the Schuylkill County commissioners earlier this year.