City Council Approves GEFA Resolution

At a Jasper city council meeting on Monday, City Clerk Tacie Williams, presented the council with a presentation on making a resolution in order to complete an application for a Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) loan.The resolution from council would give GEFA, a state agency that provides loans for water, sewer and solid waste infrastructures, the council’s permission to apply for a loan on the behalf of the city of Jasper. The loan would be used to complete a water line project in conjunction with another city project already at hand.

Williams began her presentation by addressing council about how the city had been looking for ways to fund new projects that they have such as the new water line project.

Williams continued by saying,

“GEFA has approved a city application with a low interest rate of a loan of $315,000 for materials…what GEFA needs from us when we submit this application for the loan is a resolution from council giving them their permission to apply for that loan on the city’s behalf.”

The $315,000 loan given by GEFA would be for materials only and the project itself would be done by city forces. Williams mentioned that in order to put a loan amount for materials on the application, the city had to put out bids for the project. However, Williams stated that the city only put out bids for the project to find out how much materials would cost, and not to contract out the project to any businesses.

If the city does receive a loan from GEFA, the loan will be used to fund two different water lines; one that will be a large water line that will run parallel to Hwy 515 and another that will extend to an existing line on Camp Road.

After hearing Williams’ presentation, council motioned to give GEFA a resolution and unanimously voted to approve the motion. A date as to when the water line project will begin is still unknown.