K.I. Sawyer’s Water and Waste-water Treatment Plant to receive smaller repairs

MARQUETTE — K.I. Sawyer’s Water and Waste-water treatment plant is in need of serious repair, but how extensive those repairs will be is up in the air.

That was the topic of discussion tonight at the Marquette County Commission Meeting. There were plans in place to upgrade the treatment plant, including transitioning to an activated sludge operation.Unfortunately the county has lost nearly a million dollars in grant funding from the USDA.

“The reason the revenue is not coming in and the grant was declined was because we have additional income sources and additional revenue that’s coming in that makes us not qualified any longer for the grant application,” said Joe Derocha, County Commissioner for District Two. “The revenue that’s coming in is good news for the growth of Sawyer but then it kicks us out of the program, actually, to be able to get additional federal funding for help.”

In order to make sure the project isn’t completely abandoned, the commission agreed to scale it back by about $604,000. They’re also looking into applying for a Rural Development Program loan to help offset costs.