MARSHALL — Wastewater pond improvements and street signs were projects that got the green light for federal funding at Tuesday’s Lyon County Board meeting. County commissioners heard funding requests from both the city of Cottonwood and the city of Garvin.

In 2022, Lyon County set a plan for dividing up funding it had received from the American Rescue Plan Act. A total of $1.9 million was made available for 11 cities in Lyon County. Cities could request up to a certain amount of funding, based on their population size. So far, a variety of projects have been funded, ranging from city water and sewer infrastructure updates to new equipment for emergency responders.

On Tuesday, Cottonwood City Administrator Teather Bliss said the city was requesting $100,000 to help fund needed updates at Cottonwood’s wastewater ponds. The primary influent structure, where wastewater enters the ponds, needed to be replaced.

“It is in severe deterioration,” Bliss said.

There were also problems with parts of the wastewater system like sluice gates and valves, she said.

The total cost of the wastewater pond project would come to about $226,000, Bliss said. In addition to the $100,000 in ARPA funding the city was requesting, Cottonwood had also received a $25,000 MPCA grant for the project. Bliss said the remaining project costs would be covered by the city.

Construction on the wastewater improvements was planned for later this spring, Bliss said.

“It sounds like a good use of ARPA dollars,” said Commissioner Paul Graupmann.

The city of Garvin also brought forward an ARPA request on Tuesday.

Garvin had previously been awarded a total of $120,524.88 out of the $125,000 available for it to request. That money was put toward projects like street improvements and replacing the city water meters.

“They’ve been very appreciative of everything those dollars have been able to do for the city,” Commissioner Rick Anderson said.

Now, Garvin was requesting its remaining balance of about $4,475 for new street signs, he said.

Commissioners voted to approve both the request from the city of Cottonwood, and the request from the city of Garvin.