
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 18, 1993                   TAG: 9309180139
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Medium

TOWN GETS $25,000 GRANT TO PLAN SEWER EXPANSION

Town officials have agreed to accept a $25,000 planning grant for an engineering study of extending sewer and other services to parts of the industrial park and Staff Village area.

The grant will come through the Department of Housing and Community Development. It also will provide some data on water and road service to the area.

Town Manager Gary Elander told Town Council Thursday night that acceptance of the planning grant makes the town eligible to apply for up to $700,000 next March in grants for sewer extensions and roads.

"The odds are good," he said, for getting construction money. "When they award a planning grant, you're at the top of the list . . . Hopefully, within the next couple of years, public sewer will be available in that area as well as a couple of other improvements."

The Mount Rogers Planning District Commission has agreed to handle the administration of the grant, he said, "so we won't be burdened by a lot of record-keeping."

Council also decided to break up its road improvements into two categories when it sends its requests to the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors. The board will hold its annual six-year road improvement public hearing Sept. 27.

The governing body accepted the proposal of Councilman Colbern Linkous to seek transportation funding to resurface avenues within the town during the first year of the six-year plan, and streets the second year.

Linkous said work is needed more urgently on the avenues, which are structured differently from streets in Dublin with steep grades that wash out during heavy rains. He said the town has 6,104 feet of avenues and 5,301 feet of streets.

After a 72-minute closed session, council accepted the recommendation of Russell Gwaltney, its new police chief, to hire Richard Lee Cook Jr. as a new town officer.

Cook, a former AT&T employee who has worked with the Lynchburg Police Department for two years, is scheduled to start his new job at the end of the month. His hiring will put the department at full strength.

Council also reappointed Vernon Crouse as one of its representatives to the countywide Recreation Commission and instructed council's Recreation Committee to interview applicants for the other town seat.

The town also is seeking applicants for a vacancy on the Planning Commission.

by CNB