YODER – The town of Yoder will utilize more than $1.6 million in grant funds to update ageing infrastructure that provides water to the small community of 156, as well as Southeast Schools.
The project will include building a new water tower in the north section of town, and the removal of the town’s existing water towers, which were built in 1929 and 1980, respectively.
The project is funded by the Community Development Block Grant, United States Department of Agriculture grants and loans, and the State Land Investment Board. According to Mayor Norm Feagler, the 1929 tower has reached the point where repairing it is nearly futile, and the 1980 tower isn’t far behind it.
“We had two towers,” Feagler said. “The last time they repaired it, the company that did that said it could not be repaired anymore, because when they sandblasted the inside of it, they were blowing holes in it. So, that put us down to one water tower. This water tower is not high enough, and doesn’t have enough capacity to supply the school and the town at the same time. We were basically forced to put in a new water tower.”
The water pressure is so low, in fact, that it could affect public safety. The town’s existing water delivery system will be upgraded to eliminate dead ends, which will in turn increase flow through the system.
Justin Burkart, the town’s grant officer and assistant chief of the Yoder Volunteer Fire Department, said eliminating those dead ends is important because it will make a significant difference in fire suppression, especially at the south end of the town – where Southeast School is located. Currently, the water pressure at the school is around 32 pounds – which isn’t close to enough to support a fire truck, if it’s ever needed.
“We’re taking away our dead ends and in any water system, dead ends are a bad thing,” Burkart said. “So, we’re eliminating our dead ends, it’s going to help with fire flow over to the other side of town, it’s also going to help with fire flow over by the school.
“To put that in perspective, our one engine – if we were to pump at capacity with one of our trucks, we would collapse the lines over there,” Burkart said.
The project is currently undergoing an environmental impact study. Once all the red tape is out of the way, the project will go to bid and could be complete in the early months of 2021.
Rod Weyrich, the town’s public works director, said the new tower will allow for savings in the town’s operating budget, as well.
“Right now, we’ve got two water towers going, and another benefit for the town is once we go back to one tower we’re only going to have one cost,” Weyrich said.
“So you aren’t going to have all that extra cost, like cleaning and coating the inside of your towers or just keeping up with the maintenance. So, we’re going to adjust for budgets down the road, it’s going to be probably a better cost for the town.”
The cost to the town is around $70,000, which will be covered by a long-term loan from the USDA. The amount will be compounded with an existing USDA for a total balance of $134,000, with a 30-year repayment plan.
That’s a bargain, said Burkart, who wrote the grant proposals.
“I think the biggest interest in this is that we’re able to do some upgrades and maintenance to our current infrastructure,” he said. “Twenty years ago when I started this, it was a way just to get a fire truck that worked, and for my first grant then I think we got some air packs and whatnot and the next year I got our first true structural engine. I think it just grew from there and it was a way to take something that towns or agencies couldn’t afford before, and take a percentage of your budget and increase that to some way larger amount. We’re able to do things we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.”
Feagler said the grant funding is integral to Yoder’s viability. Due to the state funding model the town’s budget is tight anyway, and the grants make necessary projects possible.
“Without grants like this there’s no way we could possibly afford to do the upgrade on our infrastructure,” he said. “There’s just no way we could do that because it’s going to get worse now because there’s no business contributing to sales tax or tourism to promote tax, so when it comes down to time to disperse money from the state to the counties, we’re going to really be hurt. We’re not going to have the money. That’s just that simple.
“The grants are what save it.”
The project isn’t without a few detractors, however. Feagler said a small group of citizens oppose the removal of the 1929 tower and are seeking to have it declared a historical landmark.
Despite its age, it is a crumbling piece of infrastructure a few hundred feet high. It would still have to be maintained, Feagler said, and the removal of the tower is included in the current grant funds – it might not be if the town waits.
“We have people that don’t want to tear it down,” he said. “They want to make it a national historical marker. But the thing of it is, who is going to take care of it? Who is going to fund taking care of it?”
“There’s going to have to be some money spent on it to keep it up,” Weyrich said.
