After coming up short on a previous grant request, Park County is trying again to receive some state American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for a joint sewer lagoon project with the City of Cody. The county currently operates sewer lagoons outside of Cody, but the plan is to have the city take over rural sewer waste disposal at its facilities.

Making the transition is expected to cost $4 million. In a previous grant request, city and county officials asked the state to pick up 74% of that cost with ARPA dollars.

Among the 113 applications submitted last fall, Park County’s request finished in the middle of the pack, county engineer Brian Edwards said, and only 18 were funded. This request ups the county’s match to 50% — or $2 million — to give the grant a better chance of being approved.

“It’s an opportunity to get a couple million toward the project,” Edwards said. “Save us putting in local ARPA money.”

The plan the county and city have coalesced around is in enlarging the Cody facility to be able to accept all city and county sewer waste, allowing the county to close its facility and avoid having to upgrade it.

The City of Cody will own and operate the facility with operational costs funded through user fees, Edwards said. Park County will then reclaim its existing facility on Rocky Road and no longer accept septic waste from unincorporated Park County.

“I’d like to get county out of future obligations, expenses with these ARPA funds,” Commission Chair Dossie Overfield said. “If we can get this to Cody where they can handle it, we’re off the hook.”