Marksville ok’s drainage work on E. Waddil Street

The sinkhole on Waddil Street has presented the City of Marksville with a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to address a chronic drainage problem in that neighborhood, City Engineer Rene Borrel said.

Borrel told the City Council at its July 12 meeting that it would cost $11,000 to install catch basins that would carry rain water down E. Waddil Street between Lee and Monroe streets.

“When we get a good rain, it holds at least nine inches of water on East Waddil,” Borrel said. The catch basin would remove that water from the street.

To make the proposed project even more attractive, Borrel said a state official happened to ask him if the city had any small infrastructure projects that might qualify for a federal grant being administered by the state. Borrel immediately thought of the Waddil drainage problem.

“This meets all the criteria for that program,” Borrel said.

The council authorized the drainage project to go forward, with hope that the city would receive the federal grant to reimburse much of that cost.

Borrel said the FEMA grant will pay 75 percent of the cost. The city would be responsible for 25 percent of the cost, but the city’s share can be covered with in-kind services, such as the use of city employee labor or equipment.

Borrel ducked out of the council meeting to contact the state official with news of the city’s approval of the project. He came back shortly with news that the city should hear word on whether it will receive the grant within 60 to 90 days.

He said the work will be done and the city will be reimbursed out of the grant if it comes through. Even if the grant is not received, Borrel said the opportunity presented from the sinkhole issue was too good to pass up.