MARSHALL — The city of Cottonwood is in serious need of updates to a water main and other parts of its Main Street. But trying to get funding to help with the project has been a big obstacle, said City Administrator Teather Bliss.

“I’ve exhausted all options,” Bliss told Lyon County Commissioners. Bliss appeared at Tuesday’s commissioner meeting to ask that the county sponsor Cottonwood’s application for up to $1.5 million in Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) funding from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Bliss said the city of Cottonwood was looking for help with a $5 million project to rebuild part of Main Street and replace water lines underneath it.

“I know we’ve talked in the past about the need for Cottonwood to reconstruct its Main Street. We’ve got a water main that needs to be replaced,” as well as streetlights, sidewalks, curbs and gutters, Bliss said. Bliss said the city of Cottonwood planned to apply for LRIP funding to help with the cost of replacing street lights, curbs and gutters, and some of the roadway.

“Because we are not a State Aid city, we would need the county to support us in order to apply for LRIP money,” Bliss said. Because Main Street is also a county road, Cottonwood could receive up to $1.5 million.

“It actually is a perfect candidate for this grant application,” she said.

Bliss said the need for the Main Street project has become urgent.

“This eight-inch (water) main, just since I’ve been in Cottonwood, has blown at least 12 times, with three boil water advisories,” Bliss said. “It’s a massive water leak when it happens.” She said it would be especially important for Cottonwood to replace the water main before the city starts receiving its water from Lincoln Pipestone Rural water in about three years.

Cottonwood as a city was not eligible for Public Facilities Authority funding for the project, Bliss said. The city was eligible to apply for USDA loans for the project, but not USDA grants, she said. Cottonwood has also applied for state bonding dollars, she said.

Bliss said overall, the work that needed to happen in Cottonwood had six planned phases, with a total cost of almost $30 million. If the city takes on the first phase of the reconstruction project, she said, “That puts us in a different line for incurring some debt, making us a little bit more eligible for maybe some grants on our second phase.”

But the city needed to get started on the work, she said. “If we can’t get some LRIP money, then I don’t know when this project is going to happen.”

“As a county, we’re more than willing to help support it,” Commissioner Gary Crowley said of the LRIP funding request.

Commissioners voted to approve a resolution agreeing to sponsor Cottonwood’s application for up to $1.5 million in LRIP funding.