Uniontown facing CDBG reduction
Another reduction in Uniontown’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) will result in the city redevelopment authority making one full-time employee part time, city officials said Wednesday.
The $300,000 the city will receive in CDBG funding this year is the minimum allocation allowed by federal law and represents a 32 percent reduction from 2010 funding levels, said Mark Yauger, executive director of the redevelopment authority.
Uniontown received $322,897 last year and about $394,000 in 2010 through the CDBG program, which directs federal funds to municipalities whose residents meet income qualifications. The money is channeled through the state Department of Community and Economic Development to municipalities.
“We won’t be able to man the phones constantly,” Yauger said about the authority’s office.
He said Teresa Hann who is the authority’s full-time secretary and controller will be made a part-time employee.
CDBG money covers the salaries of Yauger, Hann and a part-time housing rehabilitation inspector while a state grant covers the salary of the Main Street and Elm Street programs manager.
The city spends CDBG money on the annual $75,000 payment on a fire truck, paving, sewer projects and demolition.
In unrelated business, voted to apply to the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority (PENNVEST) for a $500,000 loan to cover the local match for a $1 million state grant the city received for the Redstone interceptor liner project.
A liner will be placed inside the interceptor, which takes sewage from smaller pipes from the city, South Union Township and North Union Township and sends it to the Greater Uniontown Joint Sewage Plant, to extend its life.
The city and the townships will be responsible for proportional shares of the loan based on each municipality’s use of the interceptor.
In another sewer-related matter, Randy Mundel of Mundel Furniture and Appliance Outlet on Morgantown Street said water has been seeping into the store’s basement, which is used to store merchandise, during rains during the sewer separation project on the street.
Pennsylvania American Water Company is responsible for the problem and installed a temporary sidewalk patch to fix it, but a permanent patch can’t be installed until asphalt become available in the spring, said Phil Mahoney, the city’s public works director.
In other business, council:
n Extended Veolia Environmental Service’s contract for garbage collection through June 2013 with no rate increase.
n Voted to buy a computer, copier and scanning services from Ford Business Machines for $16,287 and pay an annual fee of $395 to copy all sanitary and storm sewer line maps.
n Authorized the police civil service commission to conduct testing for the vacant lieutenant’s position.
n Thanked American Legion Post 51 for donating $1,500 for new flags at the George C. Marshall Memorial Plaza.
n Amended the Downtown Business District Authority’s (DBDA) bylaws to reduce the number of board members to five, six or seven from the current nine.
n Appointed Ben Venick and Buffy Anderson to the DBDA.
n Reappointed Ellwood Kelley to the zoning hearing board.