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City gets $3M interest-free loan to repair utilities

Among the lessons learned the hard way from Hurricane Helene is that the need for aid is easy to demonstrate. A first-hand tour will do the trick.

“I have never seen such severe and extensive damage in the western part of our state,” state Department of Environmental Quality Director Mary Penney Kelley wrote to city utilities Director Adam Steurer in a letter awarding the city a $3 million interest-free loan. “The force of water it took to sweep away infrastructure, carve out river channels and deposit silt across our riverside streets and buildings was astounding. I am similarly amazed by the hard work that you and your community demonstrated in the aftermath to take care of each other and begin to put things right again.”

“As soon as reports came in on the devastation,” Kelley directed her department to activate emergency loan funding and waive program fees. The $3 million loan is intended to bridge the gap between the city’s expenditure of money to repair the water and sewer system and federal reimbursement for the work. Payback is not required “until the earlier of June 2030 or receipt of federal disaster relief,” Kelley said.