By Jill Fennema

In the last year and a half or so, the City of Edgerton has been approved for over $1 million in grant funds.  In 2021, they received $300,000 to purchase the Brands property for wellhead protection.

More recently, the city received $220,000 in a DNR grant for improvements for the Edgerton City Park.

This month, the City of Edgerton has been notified that they will be awarded the $488,000 Safe Routes To School grant that was applied for earlier this year.

The SRTS grant will be used to install sidewalk on the north side of County Road 9 near Edgerton Public School, along the soccer fields by Southwest Christian High School, and along 4th Avenue North where the street intersects with County Road 9, connecting the homes in the new addition and north of Fey Industries to the rest of town via sidewalk.

“You did have a really good application,” said Trent Bruce, the city’s engineer with DGR. “This one really fit the SRTS requirements.”

The total project cost is estimated to be a little over $600,000. Trent anticipates that they will work through the paperwork and design this year so that the city can let for bids in the spring of 2023.

As for the DNR grant for improvements at the city park, Trent said they will let bids closer to summer and have the work done after the Dutch Festival, closer to fall.

Trent also updated the council on the Capital Improvement Plan. The city has received their funding package and a special meeting has been called for Monday, March 28, to review that package.

“The USDA has made it a priority to fund this plan,” Trent said. The meeting on March 28 is a significant step forward. Jeff Van Buren with the USDA will be at that meeting to go over the financing plan and get signatures that will keep the project moving. Once the council signs the paperwork, the city will have five years to complete Phase 1 of the CIP.

The plan is for construction to commence in 2023.