The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Friday), passed a Resolution authorizing SWIPCO to submit a RISE (Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy) Grant Program application, with regard to the Elite Octane, LLC ethanol plant Echo Road to Olive Street paving project. The timing is critical in order to submit the application to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

The Board gave Snyder and Associates Engineers Dave Sturm and Tim Teig verbal approval to speed-up the planning and design phase of the project, the RISE funds for which would, if approved, also be used for the addition of a northbound left turn lane off Olive Street to Echo Road (south of Iowa Interstate Railroad line near the FSC plant), and a southbound right turn lane.  The cost for the turn lanes alone, including reimbursable engineering expenses, amounts to a little more than $512,000.  

The plans and specs for the main line of Echo Road to Olive Street are completed. Just prep work for the new addition of turn lanes is needed. The updated project schedule calls for final plans and specifications for that portion of the project to be completed by April 20^th. Those plans would be submitted to the Iowa DOT, which requires a 40-day review. Afterward, the Supervisors would approve those specs and authorize a request for bids, at the end of May.

SWIPCO’s John McCurdy said the original RISE grant they were applying for amounted to $588,000, and was based on the number of jobs (49) created by construction of the ethanol plant. Later, a decision was made to move the application focus from mainly ethanol plant jobs to a Regional Economic Development Fund, meaning there would no longer be a $588,000 cap on funds, and the entire area could be included which increases the State’s contribution to 50-percent, or 1.5-million. That, according to McCurdy, allowed the turn lane project to be included in the funding application. The DOT Commission will act on the County’s RISE application during their meeting on April 15^th.

In other business, the Board approved a Supplemental Agreement for Additional Services connected to the ethanol plant Gray Water Transmission project. And, the Board approved entering into a 28-E agreement for the formation of the West Nishnabotna Watershed Management Coalition, “To enable cooperation in supporting watershed planning and improvements for the mutual advantage of the political subdivisions involved.” Supervisor Steve Baier said the 24-member Coalition is made possible thanks to a federal grant administered through HUD, the primary purpose of which is flood control, but also water quality, river bank stabilization, and more. Iowa’s share of the funding amounts to over $90-million, which will be distributed in phases. The first phase includes $30-million over the next five-years.