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Underwood stops in Oglesby to celebrate $1M in federal funding · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Underwood stops in Oglesby to celebrate one million dollars in
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  Speaker 1: federal funding. Written by Matthias Warner, this article is being
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  Speaker 1: read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Speaker 1: The City of Oglesby's bill for water service and treatment
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  Speaker 1: got a little lighter following a visit from its representative
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  Speaker 1: in Washington. Representative Lauren Underwood D Naperville, who represents Illinois
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  Speaker 1: fourteenth District, appeared at city Hall on Friday to celebrate
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  Speaker 1: the granting of federal funds to the city's ongoing projects
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  Speaker 1: with Oglesby officials. I want to thank the City of
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  Speaker 1: Oglesby for letting us be a part of this great project,
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  Speaker 1: she said. Having clean drinking water is essential, and there
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  Speaker 1: are so many communities that find themselves in an urgent
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  Speaker 1: place of needing to replace, enhance, and expand their services.
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  Speaker 1: Underwood secured the one million, twenty eight hundred dollars in
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  Speaker 1: community project funding for the Clean Water Project in Oglesby
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  Speaker 1: to help the city replace two thousand, one hundred feet
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  Speaker 1: of water pipes impacted by lead and or asbestosment. Through
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  Speaker 1: the community project funding from Underwood, the funds aim to
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  Speaker 1: help protect public health and safety and lower costs for
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  Speaker 1: the community of Oglesby. Out of seventy communities in the
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  Speaker 1: fourteenth district, every single one has these kinds of water challenges.
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  Speaker 1: If it's not a water source, it's a water pipe,
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  Speaker 1: it's a water treatment, it's a water tower, it's a
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  Speaker 1: water meter. Underwood said, we have the great opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: be creative and to work with these communities on these
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  Speaker 1: types of projects. I'm really glad we could offset some
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  Speaker 1: of the other expenses related to this big, big project.
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  Speaker 1: The community project funding secured for Oglesby will help ease
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  Speaker 1: the funding burden of the city's thirty eight million dollars
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  Speaker 1: wastewater treatment plant replacement, a state and federally mandated project
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  Speaker 1: from the Environmental Protection Agency. City engineer Ross Baker said
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  Speaker 1: that the project is divided into two phases, costing twenty
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  Speaker 1: three million dollars and fifteen million dollars respectively, and the
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  Speaker 1: city is roughly halfway through Phase one with a target
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  Speaker 1: completion date of December thirty first, twenty twenty eight. For
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  Speaker 1: the entire project, this is really going to bring the
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  Speaker 1: city into the twenty first century when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: waste treatment, Baker said, the existing wastewater treatment plant in
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  Speaker 1: Oglesby was seventy years old, a lifespan that Baker said
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  Speaker 1: is far beyond the normal twenty thirty year service life
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  Speaker 1: of a wastewater plant. The wastewater treatment plant project began
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  Speaker 1: in July twenty twenty five, and Underwood's ability to secure
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  Speaker 1: the federal funding for the pipes will help the city overall,
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  Speaker 1: but not directly with the larger project. It's definitely going
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  Speaker 1: to help us offset some of the brutal costs of this,
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  Speaker 1: Oglesby Mayor Jason Kurrn said. Baker said that some of
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  Speaker 1: the costs will be alleviated by a state Revolving Fund
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  Speaker 1: loan with fifteen percent principal forgiveness to be paid out
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  Speaker 1: by the city for thirty years. Any amount that we
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  Speaker 1: can chip away from other critical needs only helps us
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  Speaker 1: fund this project. Baker said, this is a really big
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  Speaker 1: deal for the city, and it is a great expense,
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  Speaker 1: but it will improve so many things.