KIMBALL, Tenn. – City leaders in Kimball have had spirited discussions for the past year on whether or not to support the construction of a secondary waterline from South Pittsburg, Tenn., by paying for the matching funds on a grant.
In February 2015, the Kimball Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted 3-2 to commit $47,572 to help the South Pittsburg Board of Water Works & Sewers extend a second waterline to Kimball if South Pittsburg was awarded a $500,000 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant in October.
South Pittsburg’s utility didn’t get the Community Development Block Grant, but plans to apply again this year for the same project.
On Thursday, the Kimball board voted 3-2 again on a resolution to fund the grant’s matching money requirement, but this year, that totals about $68,000.
“We’ve just got the one [waterline], and it’s in a lot of bad areas,” Mayor Rex Pesnell said. “If it was to break, we could be out of commission here in the whole town for a long period of time.”