Cobbs Creek resident Harry Meeks, newly appointed as a Mathews representative to the Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission, told the Gazette-Journal that federal funding for water and sewage issues will soon be available.

The funding, he said, could address sewage needs at Hole in the Wall restaurant, the Islander Motel, and downtown Mathews.

In an interview Tuesday, MPPDC executive director Lewie Lawrence said that he has encouraged all MPPDC members to talk to their localities about getting federal infrastructure grant funding for water and sewage issues. But there’s not much time to act, he added, so local boards shouldn’t take too much time to make their decisions.

“When the money becomes available, it’s on a short fuse,” he said.

A large amount of infrastructure funding will become available at the end of June, said Lawrence. That funding will be split between the state’s Department of Health and Department of Environmental Quality, with the larger amount goin...