The town of Spruce Pine has been awarded a $700,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, according to town manager Daniel Stines.
Stines made the announcement at a special called meeting of the Spruce Pine Town Council last week. The council voted to accept the grant funding.
“This grant is for the replacement of the Burleson Hill water pump station, right here across from Town Hall,” Stines said. “That existing pump is, I think, 250 gallons a minute, which is drastically undersized for our service needs.”
The goal, Stines said, is to replace the existing water pump with one that produces 750 gallons a minute. Stines noted that this grant does require matching funds from the town, however, he said, the town currently has state funding that needs to be spent that will allow the town to contribute $894,450, which would cover the match requirement.
“That would come from the direct appropriations that the town has had for some time now,” he said. “We’ve spoken to the state treasurer’s office about that, and that is fine for this use, and it has been accepted by them to use if for those purposes.”
Stines said that a preliminary engineer’s estimate shows that replacing this water pump will cost around $1.59 million; however, Stines said he thinks that estimate may turn out to be higher than the actual cost of the project.
Stines said the town has around $2.1 million in direct appropriations from the state that needs to be spent.
“That needs to be drawn down — we’ve been sitting on it quite some time,” he said. “And we’re up for more considerations for appropriations, so it would be better if we’re not sitting on the one we have.”
Mayor Phillip Hise concurred that failing to spend state money might limit the amount of state funding the town can get in the future.
Stines said that the new water pump will not be underground like the current one is. However, the structure concealing the pump will be made to look as much like the façade of Town Hall as possible, in order to improve the appearance of the area.
Cash flow loans
Hise announced that the North Carolina government is now offering a third round of interest-free cashflow loans to communities impacted by Hurricane Helene (downgraded to a tropical storm after slowing down over land).
Stines gave an overview of the cashflow loan opportunity, and the council voted to apply for the loan.
“We were actually surprised for it to be the amount that it is — the $3,364,027,” Stines said. “This money is 100 percent related to the Helene disaster, for Western North Carolina affected folks—it’s not a statewide thing. There are heavy restrictions on these funds … it has to be specific to the repair and recovery of disaster-related matters.”
Stines noted that the cashflow loans that the town has already received have not been spent. The plan is to wait until the town has approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its rebuilding plans, and then the cashflow loan money will be spent upfront to rebuild, allowing several months for FEMA to reimburse the funds after receipts are submitted. Then Spruce Pine can repay the loans to the state, using the FEMA reimbursement.
“FEMA is a reimbursement program,” Stines said. “When they approve our — whether it’s the pedestrian bridge; whether it’s the wastewater plant, whatever it is — they’re not going to say, ‘Here’s your check for $8 million to get started.’”
FEMA reimbursement can be slow, leading to affected areas (and individuals) running out of spending money before projects are finished.
“Primarily, these funds will be used to jump-start what I’m going to call the large-scale projects, which will be the two parks, primarily Riverside, the pedestrian bridge, and our wastewater treatment plant,” Stines said.