Gravois Arm Sewer District Funded $8M for Westside Service Expansion

By Janet Dabbs/LakeExpo.com - http://lakeexpo.com/articles/2010/10/27/top_news/06.txt

Published: Thursday, October 28, 2010 10:16 AM CDT

GRAVOIS MILLS, Mo. (LakeExpo.com) - The Gravois Arm Sewer District has received funding to launch Phase 3 of service expansion. The funds are slated to extend sewer service to customers in the Millstone Condominium area, Red Hollow Road, and Towering Oaks area, including Tony’s Point, Pistol Point, Triangle Cove, Coconuts, Lake Road 5-18, Done Wanderin Road and the Morgan County R-III Elementary School.

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GASD received loan funds of $5,009,000 and a grant of $2,064,000 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Other funding includes a $1 million Environmental Protection Agency grant and $68,550 from a USDA Rural Business Enterprise grant

“I am very excited that GASD has received the additional funding to expand because they are in an area where they have many of the older septic systems. GASD is working towards our long term plan of moving septics off the lake,” said Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance Director Donna Swall. “We are enjoying a very wonderful healthy Lake of the Ozarks right now, but many of our older folks are getting ready to retire to the lake full time and many of those to older homes with outdated septic systems. Our studies point toward needing a long term septic plan for the lake area and this is right in line with that plan.”

The existing Millstone Condominiums pumping station will be changed to discharge to the recently completed GASD treatment plant located behind the Gravois Mills VFW. The system will also pick up the Serenity Cove treatment plant and other waste in the area. The system will provide 882 users and serve a population of 5,303 residents. GASD currently serves the town of Gravois Mills, Blue Anchor and Millstone Condominiums, Old Eight Road and Route P subdivisions.

“This project is very important to GASD’s ongoing quest to extend sewer to its customers. Once this project is complete the “backbone” of the entire system will be complete and smaller neighborhood projects will be able to be constructed as additional funds become available,” said Stan Schultz, Principle Engineer for the project, of Schultz & Summers Engineering.

According to GASD manager Ray Metscher, the next step will be to obtain the necessary easements and meet all the requirements of the letter of conditions. They will go out to bid, wait 30 days, and construction should begin within 30 to 60 days.

“We are glad to be moving forward. This is something that should have been done 40 years ago,” said Metscher.

The district is shooting to begin work March 1, 2011.

SSE Engineering Turns Up the Heat

The Hottest place in town Tuesday night was the Cajun Shrimp Boil
hosted by Schultz and Summers Engineering

LAKE OZARK- Even though the temperatures have cooled down, things were hot and spicy at the Cajun Shrimp Boil hosted by Schultz and Summers Engineering Tuesday night. Over 500 business and community leaders attended the festivities. Jeff Hedberg of the Lake Business Journal said, “What a grand opening celebration! Not only is Schultz and Summers Engineering a top notch firm, but they defiantly raised the bar on how to throw a party. As my granddad used to say, "there were so many people you couldn't stir 'em with a stick". It was fun visiting with Stan, Bob and the whole SSE staff, while enjoying some fantastic Cajun cuisine.”

Owner Stan Schultz said, “It was overwhelming to have so many folks attend our event. We love working at the Lake and to have so many community leaders help us kick off our new building was a huge thrill for all of us at SSE.”The festivities started at 5:00 pm with several people already waiting for the first batch of shrimp to finish cooking. “The Schultz and Summers folks sure know how cook Cajun style.

They put on a great party with some outstanding food, added Ron Duggan owner of Captain Ron’s. They also gave away several door prizes including an 870 Remington shotgun and an Apple I-Pad. John Cionko won the I-Pad and Jennifer Reahr of Edward Jones walked away with the shotgun. Owner Bob Summers commented, “Seeing folks enjoy the food, music and fun made the whole party a success! This was the biggest group I have ever cooked for and getting to say thanks to all our customers and friends was a blast.” Schultz and Summers Engineering is a Missouri based Civil Engineering Company with offices in Poplar Bluff, Branson, Lake Ozark and New Orleans. They have provided drinking water and wastewater management services to over 40 communities in Missouri.

To date, they have helped those communities obtain over $80,000,000 in public funding. They have several large state of the art USACE validated testing labs and are one of the select companies that have been approved for Blanket Purchase Agreement with the USACE. They have also provided surveying services to a variety of clients from utilities, MoDOT, USACE, cities, corporations, small business, and individuals. SSE is a HubZone certified company and can be found at http://www.schultzandsummers.com.

SSE Helps Find Over $8 Million In Funding For Sewer District