Frackville considering hiring grantwriter; update provided on sesqui plan
FRACKVILLE – This borough may have a grantwriter on staff soon.
Council is considering hiring a grantwriter to help the borough find funding for various projects, such as the Lehigh Avenue streetscape project. The consideration comes at the request of the Frackville Economic Development Task Force.
Council President Ron Jordan said at last Wednesday’s meeting, council plans to research how other borough’s utilize a grantwriter before advertising to hire for the position.
“We’ve got to do a bit of homework [first],” Jordan said. “Rather than just put it in the paper and seeking.”
One of the potential benefitting projects would be the plan to reconfigure the unit block of North Lehigh Street, adding a median and widening the sidewalks at the crosswalks, among other plans.
The plans were first presented to council in March of 2020.
Mayor Kim Phillips also provided an update on fundraisers for the planned Sesquicentennial celebration, which is set for 2026, celebrating Frackville’s 150th.
Phillips said a Chick-Fil-A sandwich sale was held, and requested approval for a Foolish for Frackville 5k foot race on April 1st.
She said the Sesqui committee has about $13,600 in funds, and asked for council’s approval to put much of the funds in a CD account to accumulate interest prior to the celebration.
“Then at least it can earn interest, versus being in a checking account,” Phillips said.
Council also approved moving workshop meetings to the Tuesday before the Wednesday monthly council meeting at 5:30pm. The move will keep the workshop from running into and delaying the council meeting, as has been commonplace for years.
During the public portion, Patti Domalakes asked council for more regular street sweeping in the borough.
She asked council if it would be possible to have it run four times between May and November.
Jordan said the borough has budgeted for two runs this year.
“It’s really about the budget and getting things done,” Jordan said. “If something comes up where we have more monies, then we’ll take a look at it.”
Domalakes pointed out that other communities, specifically mentioning Schuylkill Haven, have street sweeping weekly.
Councilman Ron Berger pointed out that the communities with regular schedules own their own sweepers.
Domalakes also asked if council could get adult probation to sweep the sidewalks along Lehigh.
“I was wondering, is it possibly county probation could come and sweep my sidewalk,” Councilman Ed Beneshunas said. “Patti, what about the rest of us in the community? We push out for Lehigh Avenue to get swept. We have elderly living throughout out community.”
“The focus has to come off of Lehigh Avenue. The property owners have to take some type of responsibility,” Beneshunas added.
In other business, council:
- Approved the purchase of battery tools and a storage cabinet for the streets department
- Approved repairs to a borough bucket truck
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