Article Image Alt Text

Message from the “Mayor”

It’s a sight that I know many of you have been glad to see. The storm drain problems in the city of Bolivar have plagued many of our residents for too long and I am proud to say we have made substantial progress in eliminating some of those problems for many of you.
I wanted to give an update on those improvements and some background on how we were able to do this much needed work, as well as what is left to complete.
The City of Bolivar applied for a disaster grant totaling a little over $980,000 through the Community Development Block Grant program. Although the actual disaster actually happened in 2010, these funds were not awarded until 2013-2014.
We later also applied for additional federal funds (HUD) of just over $459,000.
Both of these grants have allowed us to create a three phase process to address the worst storm drain problems in the City of Bolivar, which includes S. Polk Street, Jones Street to Tate Road, and several other streets in West Bolivar within the Country Club area, including Weaver Lane, Country Club Lane, and Marion Creekmore Drive.
Phase I of our plan addressed the S. Polk Street area and alleviated the problems to residents where flooding was happening after most rains. Most of the problems were happening because the culverts were not large enough to handle the water.
What many of you are seeing now is Phase II of the project, which we are currently in the process of working on and completing.
Phase II is addressing the area in West Bolivar in the Country Club area, specifically the highly affected areas of Weaver Lane, Marion Creekmore, and Country Club Lane. We are installing the new storm drains and larger pipes that are intended to help facilitate increased drainage that was not anticipated 50 years ago when the subdivision was developed. The ditches in this area have overgrown through the years because of the mowing and grass build up, which can cause natural erosion after heavy rains.
Phase II will be completed before June 30, 2016.
Phase III will begin in the next few weeks and it will address N. Jones Street to Tate Road. It will address the same drainage issues Phase I and Phase II have addressed in other areas of the city. Phase III will be completed by June 20, 2016.
I know this has been a long time coming for many of our citizens, but I am proud that we have finally been able to address these issues for our citizens and get these drainage issues corrected.
I appreciate the feedback you all have given me and the city regarding these improvements. I’m proud of the progress we have made and you have shown you are proud of it as well.