Donora seeks more state funding for Rails-to-Trails project
Donora borough council approved an application to the state Department of Community and Economic Development for a $50,000 Commonwealth Financial Authority grant to study the feasibility of a Rails-to-trails project.
It’s the second grant application Donora has authorized for the project advocated by state Rep. Bud Cook, R-Coal Center, that could link Bentleyville, Cokeburg, Donora and Marianna with the Great Allegheny Passage.
Previously, council authorized an application for a 50/50 matching grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to establish a trail head at Palmer Park. The DCED grant would require a $15,000 local cash match.
The borough is hoping to secure funding to allow that feasibility study to happen and a master site plan to be developed before construction starts in 2018. Donora can drop out of consideration if it does not receive matching funds.
Council also authorized a $100 application fee for that DCED grant. Cook’s chief of staff, Jason White, told borough officials in April that Donora would be an ideal trail head because Palmer Park already has such amenities as bathrooms and shelters.
Council also authorized the engineering firm of Gannett Fleming to prepare an estimate to engineer, design and review a catch basin replacement project that would be funded by a $95,000 Local Share Account grant from Washington County.
The vote on that was 5-1 with Councilwoman Marie Trozzo casting the lone dissent. Council President Dennis A. Gutierrez was joined by colleagues Dr. Karen Polkabla, Dale C. Shawley Jr., John S. Conger and Gilbert P. Szakal.
Conger, council’s finance chairman, said the borough sought $280,000. He said it would be used on 12 to 15 catch basins across Donora.
Council Vice President Jimmie B. Coulter was absent. In March his attorney Thomas B. Kostolansky confirmed that Coulter was under investigation by the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission — and suggested that others are being probed, too.
On March 29 Gutierrez was deposed by Greensburg attorney William J. Wiker as part of that investigation. A motion to pay $612.50 in legal fees on the council president’s behalf died for lack of a second.
James “Jim” McDonough II, the unofficial winner of the Democratic nomination for mayor in last month’s primary, came with questions on that matter and the continued cleanup of the Pine Alley Fill Site, also known as the incinerator site.
McDonough challenged Gutierrez, one of two councilors he defeated in the Democratic primary, for not using the borough’s solicitor Justin Walsh for that deposition.
“I could not,” Gutierrez said. “I consulted him first.”
McDonough then questioned how much the borough actually has spent so far on services related to a cleanup of the site sought by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
McDonough was given a paper by borough officials stating that the total was $7,417. He came back with the claim that he had “on good authority” that the total was more than $8,000.
That “good authority” as it turned out was a flier sent out to Donora voters by Conger, the third candidate on last month’s ballot.
According to returns still being verified by Washington County officials, McDonough had 358, Conger 313 and Gutierrez 35. Twelve cast write-in votes on the Democratic side, while 87 votes were cast on the Republican side.
Polkabla suggested it was not the first time that a figure had been exaggerated.
“There have been quite a few figures,” Conger said after the meeting. “I included the Retal figures, not only the borough’s.”
Retal PA LLC, which is developing a plastics packaging business in Donora, has chipped in to help pay for cleanup work since it was determined that one of its contractors dumped material at the incinerator site.
References to Pine Alley prompted McDonough to ask borough officials if from now on the incinerator site would be called the Pine Alley Fill Site.
Retal also is paying half of the $600 application fee the borough is forwarding to the Washington County Conservation District for an erosion control plan for the site, which was a dumping ground for 30 to 40 years, Conger said.
“It is clear over the hillside,” the council finance chairman said. “All of that is not clean fill and DEP wants it removed.”
In other business, council authorized purchase of an outdoor cast iron drinking fountain for Donner Park, to be bought with federal Community Development Block Grant money.
It authorized preparation of an ordinance to vacate Wilson Way between Charles and Weaver avenues.
It appointed Beau Stoioff and Edward Parquette to four-year terms on the borough planning commission and Edward (Sonny) Lawson to a six-year term on the borough’s Police Civil Service Commission.
It also voted not to allow AnRe Films to use Fifth Street Church to shoot a movie. Trozzo said a reason is the unsafe condition of the building.
Among other things, she said, “the steps are falling in.”
The borough is using the building for storage but there also are still stained glass windows there, Gutierrez said, not to mention an old organ.
Shawley reported that 10 permits were issued for code enforcement last month. Szakal said there were 22 reportable incidents for borough police, resulting in 20 arrests.
Conger announced that Flag Day ceremonies will be held at 7 p.m. June 14 at the memorial near the Stan Musial Bridge. Also announced in the evening’s agenda was the annual American Legion Poppy Day, to be held on Election Day, Nov. 7.