Flomaton receives $350,000 for lagoon

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey presented Flomaton Mayor Dewey Bondurant, Jr., with a ceremonial $350,000 check that will be used to finance the first phase of a rehabilitation project on the town's sewage lagoon, located on Martin Luther King Drive.

Bondurant said the total estimate to make the needed repairs on the lagoon is about $800,000 but feels confident he can get the funds to complete the project. In the first phase with the $350,000 grant the town will have to match that with $70,000 in local funds.

The money to Flomaton is coming from a Community Development Block Grant that will be administered through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

Mayor Bondurant said he went to Montgomery last Thursday not knowing how much money the town of Flomaton would receive. Grants were awarded on a competitive basis from cities, towns and counties across the state.

Mayor Bondurant said State Rep. Alan Baker and State Sen. Greg Albritton helped the town secure the grant funds.

"The ($350,000) won't completely solve the problem but it's going to help," Bondurant said. "When I went up to Montgomery I didn't know what we were going to get, I had no idea."

Bondurant said he had plenty of help securing those funds for Flomaton and feels confident the town will get grant funds to complete the lagoon project.

"I was excited standing next to Gov. Ivey when she presented the check," Bondurant said.

The estimated cost of phase one of the lagoon project is listed as $353,300. The biggest expense is $110,000 for a chlorine contact chamber, followed by $80,000 for piping and valves and $75,000 to replace the baffle curtains.

Flomaton Utilities Superintendent Shaun Moye said work on the first phase should begin in six to eight months. He also said the first phase won't eliminate the odor along Martin Luther King Drive, but it will help.

The biggest expense in phase 2 is $300,000 for submerged diffused aerators.

In a letter from Gov. Ivey, she commended Mayor Bondurant for his efforts "to improve the quality of life for your community and wish you every success in implementing this program."

Councilwoman Lillian Dean, who lives on Martin Luther King Drive and represents that district said she was "very, very grateful" that the town received the grant funds, but said her goal continues for the town to build a mechanical waste water treatment facility.

"The price keeps going up and I've heard about the millions to build such a plant," Dean said. "But if this lagoon was in the mayor's neighborhood, it would have been moved years ago."

Dean noted the council approved an ordinance to restrict burning debris because one person complained about the smell and smoke but said people along Martin Luther King Drive smell the odor of the lagoon every day. I'm glad we got the money and hopefully it helps, but I'm going to keep preaching to the choir until we have a mechanical treatment facility."