The GNRC is offering their assistance in the application of the Community Development Block Grant, which if secured, could award the City of Eagleville with a half-million dollar grant ($500,000 is the max.), which could be utilized for eligible projects like Water, Fire, or Sewer improvements.

The GNRC has also helped to secure the Home Grant for the City of Eagleville- twice; giving qualified homeowners the opportunity to build new homes or make much needed improvements to the ones they were in.

The Community Development Block Grant, if secured, could be awarded as early as this Fall. The deadline for the grant, February 25^th, 2009, is quickly approaching, bringing with it urgency with in the community and city council to get moving on this opportunity as quickly as possible, as there is a lot of work to be done in a very short period of time.

"Walking in there, I want everyone to know that it is strictly an informational meeting about a grant that could be applied for and what types of projects are eligible," said Carolyn Stubblefield, Sr. Economic Development Specialist for GNRC. "The things I want everyone to understand are the time constraints, the deadline-we’re currently down to about 6 weeks, and whether or not it will be funded."

Since Eagleville does not currently offer a public sewer system, this could take precedence as top priority if the city chooses to move forward with the upcoming grant opportunity.

Catastrophic septic failure in the downtown Eagleville area and results indicated by a microbial source tracking study have demonstrated the city’s need for a sewer system.

Additionally, a public sewer system could eliminate the strain being placed on the sewer plant that services Eagleville School. "There is a small sewer processing plant at Eagleville School that is older and becoming harder and harder to maintain due to its age. We would be interested in hooking on to any type of new system." James Evans, spokesperson for Rutherford County Schools said.

When asked what type of sewer system would be most efficient for the Eagleville area, Larry McElroy, general manager of Consolidated Utility District said, "It would have to be some kind of decentralized wastewater system, because we can not discharge into a stream." Asked if whether or not a "STEP" (Sewage Treatment Effluent Pump) system would be an appropriate fit, McElroy said, "In my opinion, yes. But I know there are other alternatives."

Should the City of Eagleville move in the direction and later secure a grant and accompanying loans for a public sewer system, McElroy wasn’t sure of what Consolidated Utility’s role would play, due to the potential involvement of grants and loans needed to build the project. "The city might have to own it, but maybe we could have a contract to manage it," McElroy said. David Jones, wastewater manager for CUD said "It’s a win-win situation; you could even re-use the water to irrigate things such as the local sod farm." There are currently around 30 CUD decentralized systems in Rutherford County, supporting newly developed subdivisions.

James C. Haley Incorporated, an engineering firm out of Nashville, TN has performed all of CUD’s engineering for the past 30 years, and has experience working with municipalities and utility districts across Middle Tennessee. They are also credited with working alongside CUD in perfecting the "STEP" system itself.

"We work with a lot of smaller communities and towns, doing all preliminary work up front at no cost, because we know these small towns can not afford to pay an engineer up front. I take on that part of the risk to come up with a system that works for them," said James C. Haley.

Haley’s engineering firm has been instrumental over the past 20 years, having done at least 100 projects that were funded specifically by Community Development Block Grants.