The Town of Merryville has beennamed the recipient of a $1 million grant- now local proof that even the small towns of America are being helped out by the National Stimulus Package.

Merryville Mayor Charles Hudson said he is proud that Merrville has been named the recipient of the grant money from the stimulus package put together and promoted by President Barack Obama’s administration. He said the money will be used to upgrade the town’s aging sewer plant. The funding was awarded by the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) program, which is under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

“Our sewer plant is 40 years old and is in bad need of being upgraded,” explained Hudson. The upgrades will include new monitors, new filters and changing out the old, out-dated equipment for new that will keep up with current technology.

The mayor said that keeping the old equipment being used currently has resulted in the town being cited by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for violations such as going over the limit of Total Suspended Solids (TSS) being emitted from the discharge side of the sewer plant. “When this equipment was installed, there was no way to monitor the TSS,” explained Hudson, “but now we are required to.”

Hudson said that the he and the staff at Merryville Town Hall are very happy to be receiving the grant, as there would be no other way for the town to make the needed changes.

“There’s just no way that our small town could have afforded this $1 million price tag,“ he said.

Hudson applied for the grant himself and was pleased to learn that the sewer project met the criteria of the stimulus package, being one of only 55 projects that were chosen from the 250 submitted applications.

The stimulus package focuses on funding projects that will result in the creation of new jobs, which is an issue important to Hudson as well. According to the mayor, the town of Merryville lost over $43,000 in sales tax revenue during the true of 2008.

While it is not yet known for a fact that the jobs created will be filled by Merryville residents alone, Hudson is pushing for this.

“I am really hoping to create these jobs for our residents to help them out during this tough economy,” he explained, “and I am also hoping to keep the paychecks here in our town.”

Mayor Hudson also said that there is no beginning or ending date set at this time as there is still a lengthy paperwork process ahead to get the project underway.

“The grant is secured, but now there is a whole other process, such as the selling of bonds, that must take place before we can schedule the work to begin,” he said.