County leans toward water infrastructure help

By Geoffrey Woehlk | September 16, 2021 |

GEOFFREY WOEHLK/THE FORUM
Nodaway County Commissioners Chris Burns, Bill Walker and Scott Walk are shown in the county administration building.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Last month, the Nodaway County Commission began reaching out to small towns in the county to get an idea of what water infrastructure projects they may be planning to use the money on, and if they might need some supplementary funding from the county’s payment.

Securing those funds in the first place has sometimes proven challenging for those small towns in particular, who face hurdles unique to their rural setting: much of the guidance from state and federal officials has come electronically, county Treasurer Marilyn Jenkins said at the meeting in August, and some small town clerks or mayors either don’t have an email address or don’t check it often. Consequently, as she did during disbursement of supplies and county funding last year through the CARES Act, Jenkins has served as a de facto point person for those small towns on Rescue Plan funds as well, assisting their municipal officials in properly filling out forms and determining eligibility.

At a meeting on Aug. 19, the county commission pooled information with the Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments to get a rough idea of what water infrastructure projects those small municipalities might be planning to work on, and what funding may potentially be needed from the county to ensure completion.

“I think our main focus is infrastructure for our small towns in the county, whether it be sewer, wastewater, clean water — you know, anything we can get it to work for,” said North District Commissioner Chris Burns at a county commission meeting Tuesday.

Those kinds of infrastructure improvements, Burns said, top the list in part because they were not heavily addressed during the first wave of relief funding last year.

South District Commissioner Scott Walk said the commission has asked for requests for proposals from towns in the county to start the process of allocating funding.