Cedartown ready for year of action in 2023
Grants, ARPA funds help move infrastructure and quality of life projects forward
There is a dry-erase board in Cedartown City Manager Edward Guzman’s office. It lists the grants the city has applied for, the grants it has gotten, and ones that they could possibly apply for.
Over the last year, Cedartown has been awarded more than $1.7 million in grants through several different channels. Combined with some $3.7 million it received through the American Rescue Plan Act, the city is on the precipice of a renovating and rebuilding boom that will include everything from water and sewer upgrades to better recreation facilities and quality of life projects.
“We knew these were the things that we had to do so why not be able to leverage other funds. And that’s the way I always see it. We can leverage these funds together and it gives us more money, more of our local revenue sources, to do these projects,” Guzman said.
“That’s how I’m taking the approach, how we’re taking the approach, and I say it all the time to people but this city commission that we’ve got is so stable and very united on what they want to see the city have.”
As Guzman puts it, 2022 was a lot of planning and aggressively
pursuing grants. In 2023, we have the architects and the contractors online to get these projects done.
“I tell everybody that it’s a very busy time right now in Cedartown, but it’s a good kind of busy, an exciting type of busy. And you’re seeing it in the private sector as well,” he said.
WATER AND SEWER
The most expensive and most anticipated project, as far as the city’s infrastructure is concerned, is the completion of phase one of the city’s water and sewer system master plan. Totaling $1.9 million, it includes replacing the second of two clarifiers, three sludge pumps, and two aeration blowers
at the city’s wastewater treatment plant off of Girard Avenue. It also includes the replacement of two clarifiers at the city’s water treatment plant on Wissahickon Avenue at the Big Spring.
“The clarifier that we’re replacing at the (wastewater) plant is 30-plus years old. A lot of the equipment at the wastewater plant has now served its lifecycle. And so now we’re enacting our plans to make sure that our plants are efficient and up to date,” Guzman said.
The overall plan, created with the help of City Engineer Ronnie Wood, had a total estimated cost of $9.2 million when it was officially submitted last January. It includes projects that would be
done in phases based on level of need. Phase one projects are seen as critical because of the current age of the equipment within the system.
The existing Cedartown wastewater treatment plant off of Girard Avenue is permitted at 3.5 million gallons of water per day and is currently treating a daily average of about 2.2-2.3 million gallons per day. It was built in 1986 and has operated 36 years with the existing equipment running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
One of the facility’s two clarifiers — which helps process wastewater before it is returned back to Cedar Creek — went down in May 2020 and had to be replaced then.
“That was the whole point of doing the master plan. I know sometimes governments can sometimes get into too much planning and then things get put in a box and shifted away, but we’re trying to ensure that we follow the plans that we set out to make for a reason,” Guzman said.
QUALIT Y OF LIFE
There are some big quality of life projects the city is focusing on for completion in 2023, including phase two of the Goodyear Park redevelopment, constructing a new community center at Turner Street Park, and a skate park at Goodyear Park.
Another project is the renovation of the stage system at the Cedartown Performing Arts Center, which is helped by a $75,000 Cultural Facilities grant from Georgia Council for the Arts.
The renovation will revamp the entire fly system of the performing arts center, ensuring many more years of safe operation.
The completion of the stage renovation will give the Cedartown Performing Arts Center an increased capacity for backdrops, stage pieces, and equipment on the stage system.
“We knew that we had to overhaul the stage of the performing arts center. We also needed new lighting. It was several decades old at this point. But that’s why we apply for those grants,” Guzman said.
The update of Goodyear Park will continue with plans being finalized for additional soccer fields and other amenities for the site, as well as the construction of a skate park.
CEDARTOWN, C10