In addition to approving two probationary police officers, the Bradford City Council also authorized the filing of a grant application with McKean County Recovery Grant, for disbursement of Federal ARPA funds during the meeting on Tuesday night.

Council approved the appointment of Shawn Labadie and Tyler Blair as Full-Time Probationary Police Officers in the City of Bradford Police Department effective July 8. Both are fully certified by Municipal Police Officers’ Education and Training Commission (MPOETC) now and eligible for duty.

“Welcome and thank you for what you are about to do,” said Mayor James McDonald. Councilman Tom Reil added, “thanks for attending the meeting tonight, too.”

McDonald relayed the following during the meeting prior to council approving the grant application filing: “Between last year and this year McKean County is scheduled to receive $7,890,930 in ARPA funds from the federal government.

“Using 2020 census figures that equates to $192.36 per capita; every man, woman and child.

“The feeling of the City Council is that money should be distributed to the Municipalities and the businesses and entities located within their jurisdiction based on population. Using that fair, equitable equation would bring you the following figures:

“Although this list of municipalities is not meant to be all-inclusive for the county, it shows the most populated municipalities in the county. If your borough or township isn’t on this list, simply find the 2020 census figures for your area and multiply $192.36 by the population of your area and you’ll reach a figure that would closely represent the ARPA funds that your municipality would receive if the dispersal of funds were based on population.

“On that note, it would be fair to point out that the City of Bradford also has a much larger percentage of economically disadvantaged individuals who would benefit from the assistance of a larger share of the ARPA fund than the $500k we are currently seeking. Using the above calculation this would leave over $1 million to be distributed to the businesses, non-profits, and other community organizations within the City of Bradford.

“Bradford City Council met with the McKean County Commissioners on Feb. 11 to discuss possible amounts of ARPA funding that we might receive through the county. At that time City Council waited to hear back from the Commissioners about how much ARPA funding the city could expect to receive.

“City Council sent a follow-up letter on March 1 to the Commissioners to reach out and see if any sort of decision was made involving ARPA funds and their distribution across the county, including the City of Bradford. The County Commissioners acknowledged receiving City Council’s letter on March 24. Aside from that, there has been no response to date.

“We welcome the chance to speak with any or all of the county commissioners about these funds and how they could be dispersed throughout the municipalities of our county.”

Following the mayor’s statement, the council approved filing an application for The McKean County Recovery Grant in the amount of $500,000 with a local match of 10% of the grant amount. City Council plans to use these funds for the sole purpose of demolition of blighted and/or unsafe structures.

Also at the meeting, council approved the appointment of Ceegan Danielson to the City of Bradford Zoning Hearing Board, which fills the 3-year unexpired term ending in January 2023.

The following were approved for appointment to the City of Bradford Tree Board: Travis Crawford to a one-year term, Fred Proper to a two-year term and Ron Binder to a three-year term.

Council approved payment of $4,800 from to William Elkin Funeral Home for Police Officers housing in an apartment above the funeral home while they were in training and a payment of $2,371.25 to Team Minard Productions for Fire Department uniform T-shirts.

As part of the Public Works department report for June, which was routine, Councilman Terry Lopus expressed his thanks for the combined efforts of the departments in keeping the city, “looking pretty — the flowers and landscaping looks beautiful,” he said.

Additionally, 26 employees of the city earned recognition for their excellent attendance so far this year.

The next scheduled meeting of Bradford City Council will take place on Tuesday, July 26 at City Hall.