Barrow to receive $3 million for wastewater project

When the Barrow Journal questioned that due to the fact that that gravity sewer already has been installed, GEFA staff contacted county contractor Neil Counts of HSF Engineering Inc. and received an amended list of projects.

McElroy said the error was her agency’s, not the county’s or its engineering contractor.

She said Counts explained that Kerala Gardens was mentioned in the engineering report submitted to GEFA only because it was the first of three phases of planned improvements at the Hwy. 316 intersection.

Mark Whiddon, director of the county’s wastewater services, said in an email Tuesday that the loan funds will be spent on the second and third phases of improvements at that intersection, plus planned projects at Hwy 211/Rockwell Church Road, and at Bankhead Highway.

According to the engineering report, projects at those sites will cost just under $5 million.

The total cost of all of the projects now on the table throughout the county will cost about $10 million.

McElroy said GEFA in January set an annual loan cap of $3 million due to the state government’s fiscal challenges.

She said Barrow County would be eligible to apply for additional funding of up to $3 million each year by going through the application process each time.

The GEFA board also approved smaller loans for three other communities on Tuesday.

McElroy said there have been fewer applications due to the impact of the economy on local governments’ finances and also because many local governments last year applied for loans that were covered in part by federal stimulus grants.