Cottonwood City Administrator Teather Bliss spoke to Lyon County commissioners this week. Commissioners gave their support for the city of Cottonwood, as it applies for federal funding to replace utility lines along Main Street.

MARSHALL — It was a long shot, said Cottonwood City Administrator Teather Bliss. There were no guarantees that the city of Cottonwood would get any federal funding help for a total $28 million in needed infrastructure work. But repairs to city water and sewer mains still needed to happen.

“The water main underneath (Main Street) is very aged. It’s in very bad shape,” Bliss said.

On Tuesday, Bliss asked Lyon County Commissioners for their support for Cottonwood to apply for $5 million in Congressionally Directed Spending through Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s office.

The funding would help make it possible to replace sewer and water lines along Main Street and East First Street in Cottonwood.

“This is to get us off on the first leg of it,” Bliss said. “It’s a big project, so that’s why we would need your support to move forward with this funding request.”

The city plans to go through the same process when Congressionally Directed Spending applications open up for Sen. Tina Smith and Rep. Michelle Fischbach’s offices, Bliss said. Cottonwood is also requesting $8 million in state bonding funding.

“So we’re doing a total of a $13 million phase one project. It’s a total infrastructure of $28 million, it will be a total of five phases across the entire city,” Bliss said of the planned infrastructure work in Cottonwood. “A letter of support from the county would be really helpful.”

In a letter to Commissioner Gary Crowley, Bliss said the infrastructure project on Cottonwood’s Main Street would replace more than 2,500 feet of water main, and 37 lateral water connections. It would also replace more than 1,300 feet of sewer main, and 10 lateral sewer line connections.

“If any of you are familiar, Main Street was done in 2016. I think it was just road work that was done. Unfortunately none of the utilities underneath were touched,” Bliss said. “So that’s where we’re coming in to correct all of this, and the $5 million from Congressionally Directed Spending would take care of that.”

“If we do not get the $5 million in Congressionally Directed Spending – which we know is a long shot anyway, with the federal government right now – this project will have to move forward no matter what,” Bliss said.

“So if you don’t get this funding, is it going to go on to the taxpayers?” Crowley asked.

“It will,” Bliss said. “We can take on within the next 20 years, based on my forecast of utility base rates for water and sewer, we can take on about $5.5 million worth of debt. So based on that, in the next three years, if we start taking on a principal payment, we should be fine to take that on.”

Whatever happens, Bliss said, “We’re finally to this point where my guys lose sleep at night for this water main that runs down Main Street. It’s kind of one of those where, whether we get funded or not, we need to pull the trigger and start.”

Commissioners voted to write letters of support for Cottonwood’s application for federal funding.