MT. VERNON (WSIL) � The Illinois EPA is helping the city of Mt. Vernon pay for renovations to a decades-old water tower.
The Opdyke Water Tower in Mt. Vernon was built in the 1930s and it’s showing some signs of aging.
"We’ve tried to do some maintenance, but it just really needs a complete overhaul," Mt. Vernon City Manager Mary Ellen Bechtel said.
Bechtel said the renovation project costs more than $792,000. Â
City leaders have been working for a couple of years to get funding. Now, they have it, through an Illinois EPA loan.
Mayor John Lewis said the agency is covering the cost of the entire project and forgiving 75 percent of the debt.
"[City officials have] spent years jumping through those hoops and its resulted in a savings to the taxpayers of City of Mt. Vernon of 75 percent of the loan," Lewis said. "$600,000 was just given to the city of Mt. Vernon to help us complete this project. That’s huge."
Now the city just has to pay about $198,000 at an interest rate of 1.38 percent.
Bechtel said the city plans to start on the project as soon as possible but there are a few things crews have to work around, including nearby power lines, some communication technology on top of the tower, and a business at the foot of the tower.
"It is a difficult project. But even with that, the tower still had enough value to it," Becthel said. "It made it more reasonable to renovate it than it did to replace it."
Lewis said Mt. Vernon has $98 million worth of infrastructure needs to deal with but the Opdyke Water Tower renovation is one of the most important, and work should start soon.
Bechtel says once the project starts, the tower will be out of commission for at least six months, but the city has enough towers so residents won’t notice.
