The City of Big Sandy and Big Sandy Medical Center combined efforts to obtain enough grant funding to pay for an engineering study of the street drainage issues surrounding the Big Sandy Medical Center campus. The City received a $40,000 grant from the DNRC and the Hospital received a grant from the MT Facility Finance Authority for $25,000, which requires a $5,000 match from the Hospital.
Ron Wiens, CEO of Big Sandy Medical Center said "with the medical center's campus expanding to include the new clinic building and the current wellness center, it's imperative that the street drainage issues be addressed. In the spring and often after a heavy rain, the roads and alleys around the campus become muddy and rutted with several standing water pools. We are looking for a way to improve the roads and drainage to make it easier for our patients and visitors to safely walk from one building to another".
The engineering study is the first step in applying for larger grants to pay for the improvements identified in the study. Most grantors when looking at infrastructure proposals, require a Uniform Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) be completed and submitted as part of the application process.
Wiens said, "It's great to partner with the City on a project like this. Infrastructure grantors like to see these types of collaborative efforts in proposals submitted for funding. Continued collaboration will be important at each stage of the process to ensure project success". The engineering work will start in June and the PER report completed by the end of the summer.
