DUNCAN – The Association of South Central Oklahoma Governments disbursed $1,457,476 in REAP grants this year, and $1,333,024 last year, for a variety of infrastructure projects throughout the planning organization’s eight-county region.
A recent project financed by an AS- COG grant was replacement of 220 linear feet of 10-inch diameter sewer mains in the tiny Cotton County community of Devol. ASCOG awarded
a $40,500 REAP grant for the project, which was completed at a cost of $35,000. The balance of the funds were used to clean out the rest of the town’s sewer lines.
The Rural Economic Action Plan was created by the state Legislature in 1996 to improve life in rural Oklahoma. Its purpose is to assist small communities, towns, counties and unincorporated areas that have populations under 7,000, and which have little or no funding capabilities.
ASCOG awards REAP grants for projects such as water and sewer lines, streets, purchases of trucks and bunker gear for rural fire departments, said Tom Zigler, Community and Economic Development director.
REAP grants also are used to pay for engineering expenses associated with capital improvements and to provide leverage for securing community development block grants, he said.
ASCOG works closely with other government agencies, including the state Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its Rural Development Division, the Indian Health Service, and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Zigler said.
ASCOG is one of 11 regional planning organizations across the state. There are 72 towns in the eight counties – Comanche, Stephens, Cotton, Tillman, Caddo, Jefferson, Grady and McClain – that AS- COG represents.
GRANT AWARDS
Other REAP grants ASCOG has awarded in the past two years included:
• Sterling: $136,363 to replace 2-inch water lines with 6-inch water lines
• Stephens County commissioner districts 1, 2 and 3: $135,000 to repair the electrical system and upgrade windows in the Community Building at the fairgrounds
• Chattanooga: $45,000 to rehabilitate the interior of the water tower and $45,000 to perform exterior maintenance on the water tower
• Frederick: downtown sidewalks to make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Tillman County: $90,000 to replace 10-inch gate valves on a water line that extends from Frederick to Grandfield
• Fletcher: $45,000 to renovate the community center and $42,000 to automate city water utilities for better efficiency
• Davidson: $45,000 for a fire/brush truck used to fight wildfires
• Addington: $45,000 to acquire personal protective equipment for volunteer firefighters
• Medicine Park: $22,328 for a backup trash pump for a mobile sewage lift station required in the event of an emergency
• Tipton: $45,000 for sewer line repairs in the north half of town (ASCOG approved a $42,000 REAP grant in FY 2020 for an engineering evaluation of Tipton’s sewer system.)
• Central High: $45,000 for two storm sirens with accompanying hardware
• Geronimo: $45,000 for an engineering evaluation on whether to repair or replace sewer and water lines on all streets from Chippewa east and Osage Street
• Indiahoma: $45,000 for an evaluation survey of the sewage system
• Cyril: $45,000 for a sewer line repair project estimated to cost $115,350
• Walters: $45,000 to buy a new fire truck
• Rush Springs: $45,000 for an evaluation survey of the sanitary sewer system
• Carnegie: $45,000 for water meter supplies and installation
• Randlett: $45,000 to repair breaches in the wastewater treatment lagoons and to replace manholes that provide access to the sewer system (ASCOG awarded a $45,000 REAP grant in FY 2020 to underwrite an engineering evaluation of Randlett’s sewer system.)
• Devol: $45,000 for a project to alleviate trihalomethanes in the town’s drinking water, to bring the community in compliance with state Department of Environmental Quality regulations (THMs are a potentially harmful disinfection by-product formed by the reaction of chlorine and other disinfectants with naturally occurring organic matter and inorganic chemicals in raw water.)
• Waurika: $28,500 to resurface city streets
• Grandfield: $59,041 for a wastewater treatment bypass
• Fort Cobb: $45,000 to rehab the interior of the town’s water storage standpipe
• Marlow: $45,000 to resurface 16,000 square yards of chip-and-seal streets
• Bray: $44,092 to replace personal protective equipment of volunteer firefighters