A $200,000 grant has been awarded to the city of Russellville for the Johnson Street Sewer project. Assistant Utilities Director Wayne Thomas said this is going to be something that benefits the city when it's done.

The Russellville City Council voted unanimously at Tuesday's council meeting on a resolution which has the city agreeing to accept the grant.

Thomas, who wrote the grant, says he gives a good deal of credit to Councilman Gene Zick for his consistency in bending the ears of state legislators. According to Thomas, both Representative Sheldon Baugh and State Senator Joey Pendleton allocated monies in the recent budget to kick off the project, which would upgrade the Johnson Street sewer lines along with lines on First, Second, Third and Fourth streets. A portion of the grant will go for engineering studies.

“This is just the beginning,” said Thomas, who has also applied for a $1 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), which will complete the Johnson Street project by replacing the existing 6-inch lines to larger and more up to date ones.

Another grant which Thomas has applied for is the Community Economic Growth Grant (CEGG) of $814,000 which if awarded, would be utilized in purchasing a 200,000-gallon water tank that would be placed on Hospital Hill along with a 10-inch water line that would run east of the Bypass to the tank. This, according to Thomas, would open up economic growth while supplying adequate water pressure to existing customers. The city council, which is anticipating the grant, just recently purchased 12 acres on Hospital Hill to place the tank.

Thomas also gives credit to the process to Nick Stamps and Mike Duncan of the Kentucky Changers, who went door to door on Johnson Street asking residents to complete a survey, which is necessary for the grant applications.