Floyd Knobs Water Company seeks funds to construct new office building

Makenna Hall, The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
·3 min read

Jul. 6—FLOYD COUNTY — The Floyd Knobs Water Company planning to construct a new building because its lease is ending with its current office space in August.

The property at 4781 Paoli Pike has been leased by the water company since 1994, said Danny Standiford, the water company's superintendent.

The property has a new owner and now has different plans for the space, Standiford told the Floyd County Commissioners at their Tuesday meeting.

The current lease expires on Aug. 1, when the company will continue renting the space on a monthly basis until May of 2023.

Standiford asked the commissioners to transfer some of the funds that have been designated for the emergency cross-country waterline to construct a new office building.

The water company asked to move $200,000 from the $854,000 awarded through American Rescue Plan funds. The money was allocated to the water company to add emergency waterline connections.

The money would help foot the cost of constructing the new building that was approved by the Floyd County Planning Commission.

Standiford said he has talked with Emergency Management Director Kent Barrow about the new building being used as an emergency shelter. The building would be constructed next to the company's one-million-gallon water tank on Paoli Pike and would also have a back-up generator and showers.

Standiford said that the initial construction costs of the building were around $300,000 but extra requirements have increased the cost to $630,000.

"This would have Floyd Knobs Water paying a $3,500 monthly payment on a 20-year commercial loan, and the water company can't do that without a rate increase," Standiford said.

But using the $200,000 from the ARP allotment, Standiford said that the company could afford to build the new office and complete about 85% of the emergency waterline connection project, connecting to Ramsey Water Company and Edwardsville Water Corporation.

To complete the rest of the project, Standiford said that he has been in contact with the Alliance of Indiana Rural Water and the American Water Works Association about low-interest loan programs.

"We have no plans to abandon that emergency connection," Standiford said, "We still have every intention to complete that project. It may not be on the timeline of this grant money, but it's still vital."

Standiford said that they do not know when they will hear back about those loans.

"Worst case scenario, we get 85% of this job done then essentially, because of funds from the county we were able to buy a backhoe and I'm gonna lay the rest of the water main by myself with in-house people." Standiford said.

Commissioner John Schellenberger noted that they were told by Director of Operations Don Lopp that this new building would be an approved use of ARP money.

While the commissioners said that they would like use the money for its original intent, they are willing to discuss the option with the company at the next meeting.

Commissioners Tim Kamer and Shawn Carruthers said that they would like to start by seeing if they could get the cost back down on the building project, closer to the original $300,000.