Jan 9, 2017 By Rachel Basinger for The 2 min read

MOUNT PLEASANT — Borough council members welcomed back a familiar face to council at their first meeting of the year.

With the only letter of interest submitted by former councilman Fred McCloy, council passed a motion at a recent meeting appointing him to the 3rd Ward council seat that was vacated by the resignation of Paul Wagner.

McCloy served on council from 2010 through 2014 before losing his seat to Jack Caruso in the 2014 election.

“I submitted my letter of interest because I really enjoyed what I did before,” said McCloy, who has lived in the borough his entire life. “There are a lot of things going on in the third ward and I want to be a part of it.”

With all of the successful businesses downtown these days, McCloy said parking has become an issue.

“I’d like to see what we can do to free up some parking down there,” he said.

In other business, council agreed recently to sign a two-year agreement with Regola Consulting LLC at a cost of $750 a month.

Officials said Regola is responsible for bringing more than $1.5 million in grant money to the borough including money received for updating infrastructure.

The fee went up from $600 a month in 2016.

Borough Manager Jeff Landy said they had also been paying a different grant writer $150 a month, but hadn’t seen a lot of return last year. The decision was made to no longer retain the services of that grant writer and move the funds over to Regola.

Mayor Gerald Lucia said the grant writer that was dropped by the borough is the grant writer for the borough’s fire department and while they did not get approved for the grant that was submitted on the department’s behalf last year, they anticipate the grant being submitted again this year with a good chance of getting approved.

The $150 fee paid by the borough was half of what the grant writer was paid. The fire department also paid $150.

Lucia said the fire department may have to take on the additional $150 a month if they want to retain the services.

Council members are also hoping to get a number of bids for grass cutting and snow removal for 2017 and 2018. Bids will be accepted in the borough office no later than Jan. 20, when they will be opened at 1:30 p.m.