POTSDAM -- The village expects to hear around the end of February on its application for $2.7 million in USDA Rural Development grant funds to be applied to needed maintenance on the water tower on Clarkson Hill.

“It’s a time-sensitive grant,” said Village Administrator Greg Thompson. “We need to be ready to go when the last students leave in May.”

That’s because to do the work, the older water tower has to be empty, leaving only the newer water tower at Lowe’s to carry the load. Thompson said the Lowe’s tower will be sufficient to meet the reduced demand.

The cleaning, reinforcing the seams, and painting of the water tower, inside and out, has to be done by August so it can be operational when the students return.

“The wear was worse than we thought,” Thompson said after a preliminary inspection, and amounts to about four times the expense when it was estimated about four years ago.

“The good news is we saw it coming, and budgeted for it,” and while the expense will be higher, the difference will be covered by the grant and not put such a big strain on the village’s finances, Thompson said.

Environmental Design and Research (EDR), the consultants on the job, have applied for the USDA grant, and expect to hear back from them around the end of this month.