By Joe Schriner

Sentinel Correspondent

news@putnamsentinel.com

PANDORA — With an amalgam of creative grant financing, the village of Pandora may soon sit in the shadows of a new water tower.

At a recent Pandora Village Council Meeting, Fiscal Officer Kimberly Reese said the village stands at the verge of receiving $750,000 in Community Development Block Grant money for the water tower project. Ms. Reese said this has been tentatively “pre-approved,” and official notification is slated to come by July 1 of this year.

If this comes through, the $750,000 will go into a pool with two other significant grants that have already been awarded for the new water tower project. These other grants include: more than one million dollars from the Ohio Department of Infra-structure; and $500,000 from the Ohio Public Works Commission.

The total grant money, if it all falls into place will be: $2,649,500.

That figure, Ms. Reese told council, could, perhaps, be more than what’s needed for the project. And she added that the additional funds could be used for things like additional village water lines.

Ms. Reese said, tentatively, the village is hoping to let out bids on the project around July 1, if everything falls into place. And, optimistically (and depending on the contractor’s schedule), construction could be in motion by late summer/fall, or early spring.

The current Pandora water tower was built in 1950.

Another thing that’s being built — in fact it’s already in motion — are the new pickle ball courts at the Pandora

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Park, it was noted during the meeting. The pickle ball courts are located, appropriately enough, by the tennis courts.

In recent years, the sport of pickle ball (like tennis, only a more condensed court and more like strenuous ping pong, with bigger rackets) has taken off across the nation.

Another thing that has been taking off across the nation of late, is alternative energy generation. And Ms. Reese said the village has recently received two correspondences from alternative energy companies in regard to considering a village solar panel installation.

As an example, Ms. Reese said one of the letters was from the firm Dimension Renewable Energy. They were interested in setting up a solar panel display on 25 acres of village land.

While there was some brief initial discussion about this, the subject was tabled for a later council meeting.

During the meeting, it was also noted that a 1-Mil Renewal Tax Levy will be on the November ballot for local, five-year Fire Protection Services funding.

The next regular meeting of the Pandora Village Council is scheduled for Tuesday, June 28 at 7 p.m. in the municipal building.