Refusal on survey may jeopardize grant to KWSC

However, KWSC needs every household in the area to answer the survey because it is required by the Office of Rural Community Affairs if the grant is to be approved. 

“We need 100 percent participation,” General Manager Earl Foster told The Daily Tribune Thursday. 

KWSC was recently awarded a grant of $250,000 from ORCA, part of which will pay for the extension of about 6,500 feet of 6-inch water line to Indian Trail near RR 3404, Foster said. 

The corporation would like another portion of the grant to pay for a water-line extension to Lakeside Heights, Foster said. 

However, 18 people in Lakeside Heights have refused to answer questions requested by the survey and provide the data necessary to support the extension, Foster added. 

All of the questions on the survey involve straightforward yes or no responses to questions involving economic status and are kept confidential, Foster pointed out. 

“They don’t go any further than us (KWSC),” Foster said. “It is something we have to have to make this (ORCA) grant work.” 

The survey may also be needed for future grant applications to the Texas Small Towns Environmental Program, Foster said. 

Turning to other matters, KWSC now has an “operating account” of $29,000 and a $100,000 certificate of deposit with Prosperity Bank also known as Franklin Bank — and $1 million invested in the TXSTAR asset management company, Foster said. 

“Those are safe,” Foster added. 

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently appointed Prosperity to assume control of Franklin Bank after it failed, where the corporation had some deposits, Foster said.

FDIC received the Houston-based bank’s $5.1 billion in assets and $3.7 billion in deposits on Nov. 7. The closure of Franklin brought the number of failed banks insured by FDIC this year to 19. 

Depositors at Franklin will continue to have full access to their deposits, which will continue to be insured by the FDIC, according to the Associated Press.  

Also recently, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality approved the KWSC takeover of the water supply to the Bridgepoint subdivision, Foster said.

After maintaining and operating the water service for several years, KWSC recently purchased the water line to the subdivision from the Lower Colorado River Authority for $100,000, Foster added. 

During the meeting held Nov.12, the KWSC board of directors approved an invoice of more than $11,289 from Nelson Lewis Inc. for work completed on the water line, pump and storage tank for the Lookout Mountain subdivision, Foster said. 

The work is about 97 percent complete, pending a test on the pump system scheduled for Nov. 19 “to make sure it works,” Foster added. 

Also, nominations for the KWSC board can be accepted now through Dec. 9, Foster noted. 

KWSC members may vote in the board election Dec.16-Jan.9 by mail or at the corporation headquarters, 1422 West Drive, Foster said. 

Board members Ben Bearden and J. Preston Mason are up for re-election to a three-year term, while Danny Stone is running to finish two years remaining on the term unfilled by Bob Bender.  

Stone has been on the board since last July, after Bender resigned.  

Results of the board election will be announced during the annual meeting 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at headquarters, Foster said. 

No less than 10 percent of the KWSC membership is required to attend the meeting in person or register their approval of the meeting by proxy, Foster added. 

Last month, KWSC treated a daily average of more than 808,000 gallons of water including a one-day high of more than a million gallons, Foster said. 

The Kingsland Volunteer Fire Department received a donation of $1,703 from KWSC last month, Foster recalled. 

The donation came from customers voluntarily contributing funds to the department on their water bills, he added. 

Also last month, TCEQ approved construction of the new micro-filtration plant (similar to the plant that serves Granite Shoals) to begin at the end of West Drive possibly next month, Foster said. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development has agreed to loan the corporation $4.6 million at no more than 4.5 percent interest, he added. 

The loan was approved three years ago, Foster said. 

Also, a grant of $1 million from USDA will give KWSC a total of $5.6 million to build the new plant, which may take 12 months to complete, Foster said. 

When the new plant is complete, the corporation will have the capacity to treat 6 million gallons of water, the general manager added. 

raymond@thepicayune.com