LAWTON – Comanche County officials have approved a $300,000 grant to help Rural Water District #2 in Cotton County make improvements to the district’s wastewater treatment plant.
With little discussion, the Board of Comanche County Commissioners voted 3-0 Sept. 9 to approve an amended notice of award and subrecipient award agreement between the county and RWD #2 in Cotton County. The grant will come out of Comanche County’s pot of American Rescue Plan Act money, estimated at $23 million.
RWD #2 will use the grant funds to build a new lagoon cell at the wastewater treatment plant, which serves southern Comanche County, and upgrade the existing water tower at the same site, according to the commission’s Sept. 9 agenda.
The board originally approved a notice of award for the lagoon project in May 2023, Corinne Owensby, chief deputy for Comanche County Commissioner District #2, said in a Sept. 10 email to a Southwest Ledger reporter. She said the notice was later amended to include rehabilitating the existing water tower, but that was the only change to the original notice.
Oklahoma received about $1.87 billion in federal aid through the American Rescue Plan Act, which provided funds to help local governments cope with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Comanche County’s share of that money was about $23 million.
All ARPA money must be allocated by the end of this year and spent by Dec. 31, 2026.