Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect a correction in where the funding for this project has come from.
On Thursday morning, the Florida Commerce Department contacted WTXL to let us know that the multi-million dollar grant to improve infrastructure and create jobs had been rescinded in 2023. WTXL reached out to interim City Manager Steve Wingate, who stated that the upgrades are actually funded by the American Rescue Plan Act. Wingate said that he manages multiple grants and that he made a mistake in his statement regarding the funds. The city still plans to move forward with the lift station upgrades under the $2.2 million grant funding from ARPA.
- Construction of a new wastewater lift station has started on Highway 19 North.
- The project includes upgrading six sewage pumping stations with permanent generators.
- Watch the video to learn more about how this project benefits the community.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Millions of dollars were awarded to the city of Monticello by the state to improve infrastructure and create jobs. I'm Lentheus Chaney, your Monticello neighborhood reporter, here at the construction site of a new waste water lift station exploring what work has been done and how the million-dollar grant is benefiting those who live in Monticello.
The City was awarded a 2.2 million dollar grant and has stated construction three miles from City hall on Highway 19 North.
"We are currently in design and we have six sewage pumping stations that will be rehabbed and they will get permanent generators on them," Wingate said.
Wingate says that storms currently overload the old lift stations causing them to loose power. Fortunately, residents are not immediately effected by the outage due to a manual process that gets the stations back online.
"If we had a major storm or even a bad thunderstorm and power went out then we would get an alarm the point we would have to get one of our portable generator and pull it around to the site," Wingate said.
The new lift stations will also have a positive impact on employment for the city. Wingate says that a new subdivision is now in the permitting phase and scheduled to break ground within a year.
"With subdivisions comes more people into Monticello That will be addition jobs for retail for restaurants and basically the whole county," Wingate said.
Neighbor Joanne Young is excited about the new lift stations and jobs community to Monticello. She says that neighbors should be involved with the process.
"That's a wonderful idea. I think so. Because If it brings more income into the neighborhood, it would boot the environment and the neighborhood. People should go to these meetings where all of this instruction is going on," Young said.
With construction near completion, the new lift station is due to be operational in approximately 30-45 days. In Monticello, Lentheus Chaney ABC27.
