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Commission approves reallocation approach for Tallulah water project to use water sector funds for filtration and tank work
Summary
The commission approved Tallulah's request to re-scope water sector funds toward filtration and elevated tank painting, allowing use of $5 million in water sector allocation and confirming USDA match remains available.
The Water Sector Commission approved a request from the city of Tallulah to re-scope water sector funding so the state-ordered triage work and previously bid subprojects can be completed before the ARPA deadline.
Yvonne Lewis, the mayor of Tallulah, said she was appointed in July and "inherited a big water issue in our community." She described multiple bids that came in over budget, a subsequent joint receivership and a state-declared emergency that led to Magnolia Water being named the certified operator. Mayor Lewis said the state operator engaged Patterson Professional Services for "boots on the ground" triage work and that "the triage portion" has addressed immediate failures.
Jeffrey Benora of Barroka and Benora Engineers and Consultants told commissioners his review identified portions of the previously permitted project that triage had not addressed. He proposed breaking the original scope into components to ensure timely use of the water sector allocation. "What we'd like to do is we've got $5,000,000 that's allocated from water sector. What we'd like to do is take the filtration system for our water rehab and then also, the painting of the elevated tank," Benora said. He added those elements had previously approved plans and specs that staff believe can be reissued without difficulty.
Commissioners asked whether USDA funds could still serve as the local match. Staff confirmed the project originally used USDA funding (about $7,800,000 referenced in the transcript) as match and that "there's no change to their percentage of local match." Heather Paul clarified that state funds cannot be counted as local match, but that USDA funds remain acceptable. The commission approved the request by voice vote after Senator Reese moved to approve; no roll-call tally was recorded.
Commissioners and staff noted the project remains under receivership and that Magnolia and Patterson are coordinating triage and construction work. Staff will monitor permits (some previously permitted work has expired) and expenditure timelines to ensure water sector dollars are spent by the program deadline for obligated/expenditure rules.
