Bridgeport awarded grant to refurbish old water tower

BRIDGEPORT – The Bridgeport City Council held a public hearing for citizen comment on its Capital Facilities Projects list during its final meeting of the year on Wednesday, Dec. 21. Later in the meeting council approved the list in Resolution 22-20.

“We have to do that every year so we qualify to go after grants,” said Mayor Janet Conklin. “Fixing our roads is one of our top priorities and redoing some of our waterlines to eliminate leaks.”

“We like to go after grants we don’t have to pay back,” said Conklin, “but most are matching funds, so we have to be careful about which ones we go after.”

Currently two of the city’s major projects are the old and new water reservoirs. Through the federal government and other sources, the city cobbled together enough funding to complete the new reservoir.

“The old tower we are using is so old that it has to be drained and refurbished on the inside,” said Conklin.

At an earlier council meeting last fall Superintendent of Public Works Stuart Dezellem advised the council of the needed repairs that are scheduled to happen later this year after the new reservoir tower is completed and online.

To find the funds for that renovation Bridgeport applied for a grant through Sen. Patty Murray’s office.

“We went after $750,000 and she (Sen. Murray) called me just before Christmas and said: ‘Congratulations!’” Conklin said. “We’ve been very fortunate with our grants getting accepted.”

“Getting Federal dollars back to Washington state to support its communities and economy is a top priority for Senator Murray,” said Murry’s website murray.senate.gov. “Her office is able to help organizations navigate the federal grants process.  

The senator’s office can assist applicants with grant research and often provides letters of support for projects that go directly to the federal funding agency.

In other business the council approved Ordinance 22-276, an amendment to the 2-022 budget.