ROCKINGHAM — City leaders on Tuesday accepted a multi-million-dollar grant to move forward with improvements to the wastewater treatment plant.
The funding — $12,805,000 – comes from the 2023 Appropriations Act — is a Direct Projects grant administered through the Drinking Water Reserve and Wastewater Reserve to assist local governments with addressing infrastructure needs.
This will be the first major upgrade to the plant since 1990 and will include increasing efficiency of sludge handling, backup power generation, and aiding the move toward the plant serving the entire region, City Manager Monty Crump said last year when the funding was announced.
Ellerbe has been sending its wastewater to Rockingham for more than a decade and the county will be sending wastewater from the Energy Way Industrial Complex south of Hamlet.
A resolution adopted by the council authorizes Crump to furnish information regarding the project to state agencies and execute associated documents required by the Division of Water Infrastructure.
The city council also adopted a related capital project fund outlining the budget:
- $9,083,853 for construction and contracted services
- $1,737,889 for professional services, fees, and the engineer
- $18,000 for miscellaneous administrative fees
- $1,965,258 for contingency
Crump said many things for the project are already in place, including the engineer.
That project is scheduled to be completed by late 2026 or early 2027.
Prior to the water treatment plant business, the council set a public hearing for the updated city code at the next meeting on Oct. 8.
According to Assistant City Manager John Massey, the city hired American Legal Publishing in October 2023 for recodification, which includes all amendments since the last recodification in 2002.
That project also ensures the city’s code is consistent with state statutes, updates statutory references and incorporates staff revisions which include removing antiquated language and references to municipal boards that no longer exist.
Massey said the city will contract with the company each year to codify all local amendments and make sure the city stays up to date with state law. Doing that, Massey said, will “avoid the cumbersome, labor intensive effort of catching up on over 20 years of updates at one time.”
As part of that contract, American Legal Publishing will also host the city’s code on its website so it can be easily updated.
Copies of the updated code are available at City Hall.
The city council also voted to appoint Holleigh McLaurin to the Historic Preservation Board. McLaurin will fill the seat vacated by Michelle Denham.
Marty Goodman and Randy Warren were reappointed to that board in June.
Although there are still two open seats available, Massey said the board can function with five people. In July, Massey said the UDO calls for a seven-member board but it has been functioning with five because it is a challenge to find qualified members.
