ALAMOSA — The United States Department of Agriculture will fund the Mosca wastewater infrastructure improvement project. Alamosa County Commissioners formally awarded the bid to Robins Construction and effectively closed on the USDA's $159,000 loan at their meeting on Wednesday.

Once the loan is dispersed and spent the county will then receive a $655,000 grant from the USDA.

Two weeks ago the funding was in jeopardy when commissioners recommended Cooley and Sons Excavating, Inc. for the project even though they weren't the lowest bidder. USDA temporarily withdrew their funds last week, prompting Robins to be recommend at a special meeting last Thursday.

Robins Construction's bid was the lowest at $834,655 while Cooley's bid was $4,674 higher at $839,329.

Along with a notice of award to Robins Construction, the commissioners approved a loan resolution, a draft bond resolution and a letter to the USDA to select Travis Robinson as the project inspector.

"I do believe he's the only qualified inspector in the San Luis Valley," said Alamosa County Land Use Administrator Rachel Baird. "He's worked with [project engineer] Martin Reynolds before for the town of La Jara."

The contract between Robins and the county was approved pending Alamosa County Attorney Jason Kelly's final approval of the document. Since all of the files arrived at the county that morning, Kelly did not have the opportunity to thoroughly clarify language before the meeting.

"I have issues with the supplemental conditions because they don't reference the general conditions properly," said Kelly. "It's not the content so much I'm concerned about; it's the language."

The county still has to complete other items before it can officially close on the loan as well.

"I'm not sure what a written letter of acceptance for all proposed observers is," Kelly said. "I'm not familiar with that particular requirement so it's something we're going to have to look into."

Nonetheless officials are glad to have the funding secured.

"This is what we've been working towards for two years," said Baird.

Construction is slated to begin Aug. 1.