Crescent scales wastewater plan; regional grant award falls and roughly $481,261 in regional funds will be reallocated
Summary
At a Pottawattamie County meeting, staff reported that the City of Crescent reduced its planned wastewater project to about $2.05 million, lowering its regional grant award to $496,000 and freeing roughly $481,261 in previously committed regional funds.
At a Pottawattamie County meeting, staff reported that the City of Crescent reduced its planned wastewater project from a multi-million-dollar design to a lower-cost system, cutting the estimated construction cost to about $2,050,000 and lowering the regional grant share.
County staff said the regional program (RPCAC) funds 24.2 percent of projects. Under the revised cost, Crescent's award from the regional grant program will be $496,000 and the change releases roughly $481,261 in previously committed regional funds that will be either reallocated or not used on the Crescent project. Staff explained the money was contractually committed to the city and will not be paid toward the Crescent work; instead those funds will remain available for other projects or returned to the program's funders.
The presenter said the City of Crescent identified an alternative treatment system that had not previously been used in the United States and that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) approved the facility plans after nearly a year of review. The county's packet notes the city selected Snyder and Associates as the engineer for the current design; the earlier consultant on the project had been McClure Engineering.
Staff also described how other towns in the regional program have seen cost changes. The Hancock project, for example, grew from an initial estimate cited in the packet to about $600,000, leaving the regional program funding only about 11.9 percent of that project. County staff said members of the regional committee could consider using some of the funds freed by Crescent's cost reduction to bring Hancock and other projects closer to the program's target 24.2 percent share.
Neither staff nor the board announced a formal vote in the meeting minutes provided. The presenter offered to provide detailed recalculations to committee members by email or at a follow-up RPCAC meeting so the executive and technical committees can decide how to allocate the newly available funds.
Implementation details that were not specified at the meeting include the exact split of returned funds between outside funders and the regional program and any formal motion or vote to reassign the dollars. Staff said the projects are contractually required to be wrapped up with final payments by September 2026, and the committee stated a preference to complete work and payments sooner if possible.
