SMETHPORT –– McKean County Commissioners agreed Tuesday to send a $150,000 application to provide provide homeless housing services.
The submission of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development for Emergency Solutions Grant application is being done on behalf of A Partnership in Housing and the YWCA Bradford.
“There are four components to this program,” said Linda Thompson, housing and homeless services coordinator for the McKean County Housing and Redevelopment Authority. “They are street outreach, which will identify individuals without safe places to live, additional staff for emergency homeless shelter, homeless prevention activities and case management and rapid rehousing so those in emergency shelters can rehouse as quickly as possible.”
In other business, the commissioners accepted a one-year renewal quote from Cost Management Plus Inc. for the prison inmate medical cost containment program through June 1, 2019. The premium is $11,673 with a down payment of $2,917 and 11 monthly installments of $796.
“We’ve been dealing with this company since the early 2000s, and they have done a good job of keeping costs down,” said Commissioner Cliff Lane, who conducted the meeting.
A resolution allocating $1,000 annually to the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission toward a match requirement under the Greenways Mini-Grant Program also gained approval.
This grant funding of up to $25,000 is open to entities in Cameron, Clearfield, Elk, Jefferson, McKean and Potter counties and can be used for various types of conservation-, recreation- and tourism-related projects.
During the seven years the Greenways Mini-Grant Program has been available, about $750,000 in grants have been awarded.
Commissioners also approved resolutions regarding M & M Contractors of Johnsonburg, the company preparing the approximately 40-foot-by-40-foot concrete pad at the county recycling center where bins are to be located at the Good Growing Gardens along U.S. Route 6 west of Smethport.
Commissioners OK’d a 14-day extension for completing this work. Justin Lund, the county recycling director, said the delay has been caused by the weather and a concrete issue.
The second resolution approves a change order with the company in the amount of $1,600 to install a second utility pole for service at the county recycling center after agreement has been reached with Smethport Borough.
Six county aid applications were approved. They were $16,311 for Bradford City for a resurfacing project, $5,318 for Ceres Township for purchasing gravel, $1,257 for Corydon Township for purchasing salt and anti-skid material, $10,703 for Foster Township for purchasing anti-skid material, $7,258 for Kane Borough toward repayment of a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation program for street repairs, and $2,751 for Norwich Township for purchasing anti-skid material.
Kane Borough Manager Don Payne and Kane Borough Councilman Gary Schul attended this meeting.
Schul asked the commissioners about moving their meetings at different locations throughout the county in the hopes of increasing attendance.
“This has been tried and turnout was not as good, but we can look at it in the future. I’m not against it,” Lane said.
Commissioners meet at 10 a. m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays in the courthouse unless otherwise advertised in legal notices.
Schul said he had recently attended a meeting of the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, which has set the topic of networking is an objective.
“I believe that by moving your meetings around the county could fit in very well with this goal,” he said.
Lane complimented the Kane community for its recent Arts in the Wilds event, a juried outdoor fine arts show.
“Thanks to Kane for doing things differently and revitalizing the area. This needs to be applauded,” he said.
Payne replied, “This reflects our town’s philosophy of ‘doing things our way.'”
