The town of Flomaton has an opportunity to partner with the town of Century to receive free assessments on public and private properties to determine if those sites are contaminated.
Debbie Nickles, town planner for Century, and Beth Norman with Cardno, an environmental group from Tallahassee approached the council Monday about including the town of Flomaton in the project.
Phase I of such a project would allow environmentalists to assess properties to determine if there is contamination on the site. The assessment is free for town properties and individual properties.
In a letter to Mayor Dewey Bondurant Jr., Nickles recommended an assessment of the Old Jackson Theater to determine the levels of possible asbestos and lead paint.
She said she had also asked Mayor Bondurant to give her a list of other sites, public and private, to include in the project.
Nickles noted the town of Century submitted an application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2016 for a community-wide assessment grant to support the town's efforts to assess and remediate properties affected by historical industrial contamination.
“While the town of Century (Fla.) is the grant applicant and will be responsible for all aspects of the grant, the target area for the Brownsfield Assessment Grant includes the neighboring town of Flomaton (Ala.),” Nickles stated in a letter to Mayor Bondurant. “Century proposed this collaborative approach since the communities are linked together in several ways except for the arbitrary state line.”
Nickles also noted by combining both towns under the same project, administration costs would go down vs. having two separate projects for each municipality. She also said it would provide a higher level of environmental and economic benefit for both communities.
She said under Century's Brownsfield Assessment Grant Program, 23 potential sites have been identified for possible inclusion in the project.
“Why would Century be interested in us getting a grant?” asked Councilman Buster Crapps.
Nickles said the EPA thought it would be a good idea to join the two towns together.
She also said the assessments of properties is free. If contamination is found, grant applications can be made to the EPA for cleanup.
Norman said she has been doing this for 11 years and she's never had a municipality pay money.
The council said it would look over the proposal and let them know what direction to go.
