County seeking storm damage money

Sep. 10--Caldwell County is trying to get a grant to help fix storm damage to waterways in the county after the heavy rain in early June.

At Monday's meeting, the Caldwell County Board of Commissioners approved a county match of $50,000 in labor, construction work and other services for $200,000 of Emergency Watershed Protection Program money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The money would be used to repairs streams and drainage infrastructure damaged during the heavy rain Caldwell got on June 8 and 9, according to information from the Caldwell Soil and Water Conservation District. The water and soil staff will evaluate projects like cleaning streams of debris, reshaping eroded stream beds, repairing levees and correcting damage to drainage facilities to see how the money could best be used.

With approval from the board, the soil and water staff will apply for the funds from the USDA.

In other business, the commissioners approved a roughly $1.5 million loan to pay for this year's capital projects that were approved in the 2019-20 fiscal year budget. Those projects include new patrol cars for the sheriff's office, new machinery for building maintenance, a new ambulance and other trucks for emergency services, and internet and phone upgrades in several departments.

The loan is just under five years with a 1.68 percent interest rate.

Reporter Virginia Annable can be reached at 828-610-8724.

___

(c)2019 the News-Topic (Lenoir, N.C.)

Visit the News-Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) at http://www.newstopic.net/

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.