Governor Laura Kelly announced last week that 40 rural Kansas communities will receive Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) totaling more than $17.6 million to help support critical community development projects.

The City of Fort Scott received a $700,000 award grant to help revitalize the wastewater system infrastructure.

The awards are administered by the Kansas Department of Commerce and granted from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Small Cities CDBG program. Eligible CDBG public improvement projects help fund water and wastewater projects, housing rehabilitation, and other community facilities and services, according to a press release from the governor.

The $700,000  grant will be put with the $425,000 that the city will provide of the projected total cost of $1,125,000 for wastewater system infrastructure improvements.

“The project is set to be solicited in the next few weeks, ” Fort Scott City Manager Kelley Zellner said.  “And a contractor will be selected. Once the contractor is chosen for the job, the contractor decides the order of completion of the project using their ‘Means and Methods.'”

“The city’s wastewater collection system is in need of attention in certain areas and some of the equipment at the sewer plant will need to be looked at for upgrades in the next several years,” Zellner said.

“This particular improvement project,  to the citizens of Fort Scott is a small portion of the need improvements to the overall collection system and a small step in the direction of a healthy infrastructure legacy for our children and grandchildren’s sake!” he said.