Lobbying blitz nets Elsa its largest grant ever

ELSA — The Elsa City Council wasn’t going to let a state board take away what one of the commissioners described as its lottery ticket.

Elsa was at the top of the list when the Texas Water Development Board released a first draft of how it planned to award grant money from the federal Recovery Act. But on a second draft, the city’s $6.4 million application for work at its sewage plant was bumped to the bottom of the list, deflating the hopes of the council and the rest of the city.

Rather than take the news sitting down, key city officials traveled to Austin to demand specific reasons why their project was no longer under serious consideration.

“Failure was not an option,” said Robert Escobar, one of the council members who argued the city’s case before the state board. “We were determined to show how bad the funds were needed.”

Their efforts were rewarded this week when the board awarded the city a $6.4 million grant to make sweeping changes to its deteriorating sewer system, improving eight lift stations and replacing 17,000 feet of pipe. A lift station is a facility that pumps wastewater to a higher elevation so gravity can then be used to move the sewage to the treatment plant.

The grant is the largest awarded to Elsa in its history — the city was incorporated in 1940 — and requires the financially strapped community to put up only $409,000 of its own funds for the work, Escobar said.

The city’s engineering contractor for the improvements, Edinburg-based Melden & Hunt Inc., will manage the shovel-ready project and put it out for bid within the next 45 days, said state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg. Work could begin as early as January 2010.

The lawmaker said he was impressed by Elsa officials’ tenacity when he accompanied them to Austin. Peña also noted how important modern water and wastewater treatment facilities are for a city’s development.

Elsa has another proposal pending for over $5 million in funding for improvements to its water treatment plant.

The Water Development Board plans to award grants for water treatment projects at its November meeting.

The water and wastewater treatment plants are three decades old and show visible signs of wear, said Mayor Senovio Castillo. The grant for the sewer plant sets the city up with enough capacity for the next 10 years.

“It’s going to improve the quality of our sewage plants,” Castillo said. “We’re going to go out there and fight for another $5 million (for our water plant).”

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Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4424.