The Wakulla County Board of Commissioners voted yes to multiple agenda items in the commission meeting on September 3rd, including to apply for a grant to make sewer improvements in Panacea.
Three proposed sewer projects in Panacea would be up for grant funding from the Florida Commerce’s Rebuild Florida program. The project’s cost ranges from 1.8 to just over 3 million dollars. Watch the video above to hear from officials about the funding and what neighbors think about it.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Wednesday night, Wakulla County Commissioners voted to apply for a grant that could improve sewer systems in Panacea. I talked to officials about the funding and how neighbors feel about it.
There are three proposed sewer projects near Ochlockonee and Dickerson Bays. According to the county administration, the proposed projects are to help reduce stormwater infiltration, protect water quality, and improve system resilience. These sewer systems are around 30-40 years old and prone to flooding from storm surge.
“We have dealt with storms that come in, and they actually violate the integrity of our wastewater system,” said Ralph Thomas, County Commissioner for District 1. “I recall some where manhole covers would pop up, and the flood water would actually make it into our wastewater system.”
With these issues, the sewer contents can also go outside the system into our local bays.
“So, in Wakulla County and in Franklin County, we’ve had a huge issue with Enterococcus and E. Coli in the coastal areas in the surf,” said Dr. Ken Frazier, a neighbor. “And that’s really discouraging, both the fishing and also the people that want to come down and enjoy the beach. So, anything that we can do that would cut down on the bacterial content in the water is going to help.”
Frazier says these projects will be beneficial, and there’s no harm in trying to get state and federal funding to subsidize it. This funding would come from the Florida Commerce’s Rebuild Florida 2023-2024 storm infrastructure program.
“This helps to decrease the likelihood that their bills would go up, because the system needs to be fixed, the integrity needs to be restored, which would cost local money,” explained Commissioner Thomas. “If we get this grant, then that’s going to be millions of dollars that is paid for from Florida Commerce, that doesn’t have to come out of local tax dollars. So this would be a a net win for our taxpayers.”
Public comments on this will be accepted through September 15. The application for the grants will be accepted through September 29th.
You can contact Melissa Corbett at 850-926-0919 ext. 725 or mcorbett@mywakulla.com to make those comments.
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