Carbondale Reporter

The Murphysboro City Council discussed an ongoing project involving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during a recent meeting.

Mayor Will Stephens updated the council on the state of the city's water tower improvement project at the March 28 session. This past fall, the council announced that it would be undertaking a $1 million project to repair and repaint two of municipal water towers, sandblasting the interior and exterior of those at 17th Street and Boot Camp before repainting them. They're also set to perform some miscellaneous repairs on the facilities to ensure a continued safe water supply and the quality condition of their water infrastructure.

The project will cost approximately $1,074,936, and Murphysboro received $500,000 in the form of a grant from the EPA. The city also will be taking a $500,000 loan from the EPA at a rate of 0.93% over the next 20 years to further meet project costs. The remaining $75,000 will be sourced locally through the city's various funds.

Stephens said that a preconstruction meeting about the project recently was held to discuss some of its trickier aspects. Both water towers have antennas on top, so the council had been coordinating with the contractors and antenna company to ensure they don't have to be removed or turned off during the repainting process.

Both the contractor and the city are ready to begin the project, weather permitting, as soon as possible, starting on the 17th Street tank in early April. Harold Sheffer, vice president of the civil engineering company J.T. Blankinship, shared that the group is looking to redo and brighten the yellow and red apple design on the 17th Street tower, as well as potentially making the design slightly bigger. The design of the Boot Camp tank also is expected to be redone.

"The Boot Camp tank, the last word I got was that it was to go back as red," Sheffer said. "So that's the plan right now, unless both colors, it's part of the clear coat system. They put all of these colors. Now it's a lot better than it was. And hopefully, like in 20 years, they won't wash out as much as far as those bright colors have a tendency to fade in the sun."

The council was pleased to hear about the plan's progress, joking about a nearby town trying to repaint its own logo as a prank and installing a barbecue logo in honor of Murphysboro, though no real changes to the plan were made.