Redevelopment authority to invest Storey Square funds
UNIONTOWN — The city redevelopment authority approved investing funds with Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company for Storey Square and Nemacolin Woodlands Courtyard, the fountain area across from the Fayette County Courthouse, at its regular monthly meeting Wednesday.
The authority will invest $100,000 with MassMutual and keep $20,000 in the Uniontown Property Development Corporation (UPDC) checking account to cover maintenance and other expenses.
Authority Executive Director Mark Rafail first noted the $120,000 endowment enabling the MassMutual investment and UPDC deposit in June, when Commercial Center Associates, a real estate company owned by 84 Lumber founder and former county commissioner Joe Hardy, promised that endowment.
The gift also included the donation of the courtyard and a part of Storey Square not already owned by the city to the authority. Rafail said the endowment was to be used for future maintenance and administrative costs for the donated areas.
The UPDC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established by the Uniontown Redevelopment Authority in 1994 to conduct city-enhancing events.
At its last meeting in September, the authority heard respective five-minute presentations from Clara Pascoe, executive director of the Community Foundation of Fayette County; Devan White, BPU client service manager and financial adviser, and Brett Kovach, MassMutual financial adviser.
Authority Vice Chairman Kurt Sturdevant suggested Wednesday that the authority invest with MassMutual. The board unanimously agreed to use the company.
In other business, the board approved writing a letter of commitment and intent in support of applying for a Civic Engagement Grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council following a request from East End United Community Center Director Matt Crutchman.
Crutchman said the grant gathers perspectives from residents to lay the groundwork for community-building actions to follow.
“They (would be) taking oral stories from people that live here in Uniontown and turning it into actual data, to where we can draft a vision for the whole city of Uniontown,” Crutchman told the board.
Crutchman said the grant would require a cash or in-kind match of $60,000 to $80,000 yearly.
Crutchman requested that the authority serve as the fiduciary and apply for the grant, while Crutchman would assist in writing and facilitating the grant.
“This will facilitate us in being able to go after other grants through DCED (Department of Community and Economic Development) and HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) that we’re not able to do right now,” Rafail said of the application.
Rafail added that the analysis resulting from the program would assist in the city’s quest to forge a new comprehensive plan, since he said the city’s current plan is about five years old.
In unrelated business, the board unanimously voted to raise Rafail’s salary to $48,000 per a four-year contract starting Dec. 1 from his current salary of $40,000 in response to the U.S. Department of Labor’s raising the salary threshold indicating overtime eligibility to $47,476 per year, also starting Dec. 1.
Davis said that a $48,000 salary would still put Rafail’s compensation below that of his predecessor.
“Mr. Rafail’s doing a marvelous job,” Davis said on the board’s behalf.