The Town of Ennis received $750,000 from the Department of Commerce in the form of a community development block grant (CDBG) to improve their water system infrastructure. 

“The CDBG is one of the most competitive grants as eligibility is based on the low to median house income of the community and need,” said outgoing Ennis mayor Nici Haas. “As I understand it only five projects were selected.” 

“The Town Commission carefully weighed the cost benefit of having Great West Engineering put the grant submission together,” she continued. “The Town tried previously with no success the previous year.” 

The key players in this were the town commission, public works director Eric Olson, clerk Ginger Guinn and all the community members that submitted letters of support, including the high school government class. Go Mustangs! We received more support letters this round and it helps immensely, so I can not say thank you enough to all of those that took the time to submit letters,” she continued. 

The funds will be used to upgrade the town’s water storage tank. 

“This will go towards the water project of a new water storage tank,” explained Haas. “The current tank does not meet fire capacity reserves, it has had to be patched multiple times by divers. The grant is the exact amount of our initial quote on a pretreated concrete storage tank that has enhanced earthquake resistance as compared to all of the other options that were reviewed.”

“The grant will not have a direct effect on the timeline of the project as phase one of the wells begins shortly and then Phase two will be storage,’ Haas continued. “This reduces the amount the Town needs to take out on a loan essentially reducing the interest.”

The grant is part of $3.4 million awarded by the DOC to projects all around the state. 

“The CDBG PF/CF Program is designed to help local governments fund construction or rehabilitation of infrastructure and community facilities that primarily benefit low- and moderate-income Montanans or individuals earning less than 80% of the area median income,” read a statement from the DOC. 

“Commerce’s CDBG programs help create and retain good-paying jobs for Montana counties, cities and towns by building the capacity, resiliency and resource base necessary to develop strong communities,” said Commerce Director Marta Bertoglio.