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Grant money helps pay for new water storage tank in Williams

WILLIAMS, Ariz. - The city of Williams is set to receive a new storage tank for treated water, thanks in part to some state grant funding.

At their Jan. 29 meeting, the Williams City Council voted to submit an application for the project for about $265,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds from the Arizona Department of Housing Regional Account.

The Arizona Department of Housing distributes CDBG funding to the four rural Councils of Governments using a poverty/population formula. The Northern Arizona Council of Governments uses the same formula to distribute the money to incorporated cities and towns in Apache, Navajo, Coconino and Yavapai counties. Each city and town can apply for funding every four years.

To be eligible for the money, projects must benefit low to moderate income persons, aid in the prevention or elimination of slums or blight or address an urgent need that poses a threat to health.

In the past Williams has used CDBG money for improvements at the Williams Senior Center, street and sidewalk repairs, housing rehabilitation, and improvements for the Head Start program.

The city's existing water storage tank located on Taber Street holds about 25,000 gallons and is at least 60 years old. City officials said they need a new tank because they're supposed to have three days worth of potable water storage. In addition, an inspection completed almost three years ago listed the different parts of the tank to be in fair or poor condition. The city hopes to upgrade to a 178,000-gallon tank, which would require officials to relocate it to a nearby site where there is enough room.

The city has committed $175,691 in local leveraged funds to help with the engineering and construction of the new tank project.

"It will depend of course on final site work as the project is engineered," City Manager Brandon Buchanan said of the actual amount.

With the design, bidding and environmental review process, the new tank is scheduled to be installed in summer or fall of 2016.

When the first public hearing about the grant took place Oct. 28, a second group expressed interest in applying for the funding.

Williams Alliance for the Arts representative Kris Williams and old school building owner Bruce Bennett presented their idea for using the grant money to renovate the school's gymnasium. They hope to convert the gym into a multipurpose community center, which could include conference space or art exhibition space.

However, Williams and Bennett ultimately decided not to apply for the funding.

"We decided that it's just too early in the process for us and we

decided that the infrastructure of the city is probably more critical at this point," Williams said. "They really think that they need to replace that water tank and so they had a much more definite urgent need for the funds, so we did not pursue it."

In the meantime, Williams Alliance for the Arts representatives are looking into other funding sources for the gym, such as a Community Development Investments grant from ArtPlace America.


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