SCOTT CITY GETS GRANT OF $203,500

SCOTT CITY -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has granted Scott City $203,500 to help fund construction of sewer lines to serve the city's industrial park.

The almost 16,000 feet of sewer lines will provide services for Havco Wood Products, Inc., Industrial Fuels and Resources, Inc., Rhodes Oil Company and about 15 other commercial and service industries located in the industrial park, said Tracy Mehan, DNR director.

The industrial park is located along Nash Road.

"The grant is an excellent example of how government and industry can work together to balance environmental protection and economic growth," Mehan said.

Funding for the grant comes from a bond issue approved by Missouri voters in 1988 for waste water treatment, public drinking water and storm water improvements. The grant will be administered by the DNR's water pollution control program.

The grant will cover approximately 55 percent of the cost of the sewer lines, said Scott City Mayor Shirley Young. Matching funds in the amount of $290,000 from the Department of Economic Development must also be acquired by the city before construction of the lines can begin, Young added.

The city applied for the DED grant more than a year ago. If the city does not receive the DED grant, 45 percent of the cost of construction, $166,000, must be covered by the city.

But Young said she is confident that the city will receive the DED grant. Industrial Fuels and Resources, Inc., has applied for a permit from the DED to expand business operations. The company has said it cannot expand without the water and sewer lines.

Young said if the permit is approved, the DED grant will almost certainly follow.

"The key to everything is the approval of the permit," she said. "It is based on the expansion of the company and the number of jobs that will be provided as a result of that expansion."

Young said even if the DED grant is not received, the city will not lose the DNR grant, as long as it can provide the $166,000 in matching funds. Water lines to the area will also be built with DED grant funds, she said.

The Nash Road industrial area was annexed by the city in 1989 at the request of Industrial Fuels and Resources, which has about 35 employees. Havco Wood Products employs more than 200.

At the time of annexation, the city expected the water and sewer lines to be built by the summer of 1990.