Finance Committee authorizes loan agreement, bidding to advance lead service line replacements

At its Aug. 14 meeting the Finance Committee approved an ordinance authorizing the city to proceed with bidding and to enter a principal-forgiveness loan agreement and related documents for a lead service line replacement project, John Hoffman of the engineering division told the committee. The ordinance implements a third project awarded under state/federal water infrastructure programs and allows the mayor to sign required documents.

Hoffman said the city submitted a five-year project plan in 2021 as a condition for applying to the water loan and grant programs. “We applied for 5 projects at $4,000,000 each,” he said, and described earlier awards and results: the city received $4 million for its first project in 2022 and completed about “700 service replacements on that project.” In 2024 the city secured just over $3 million after new Bipartisan Infrastructure…