Solobay: Borough Should Receive $600K Grant

Canonsburg Council’s building and grounds committee said it wasn’t quite sure how to proceed with a proposed renovation project for the borough because it still doesn’t know where the money would come from to pay for it—even if the middle floor of the municipal building is now vacant since the Greater Canonsburg Public Library moved to its new facility.

In a meeting Wednesday, the committee agreed on several priorities for the borough :

1.     That the borough police department offices need improved and expanded.

2.     That rental offices such as Main Street, the Greater Canonsburg Chamber of Commerce and the sewer authority should be moved into the borough building, which will generate income.

3.     That the restrooms and elevator in the building need to be updated so they are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Borough Manager Terry Hazlett said Canonsburg was not awarded money through the county’s local share of casino revenue, and another state funding source was up in the air.

He said a more than $600,000 matching grant through the state is still pending, but that he was unsure whether the proposals would still be honored under the new governor.

Councilman George Coleman shook his head and said that in these hard economic times—and a proposed budget that included slashes in education and other social services—he wasn’t confident that the money through the Redevelopment Assistance Capitol Projects would be awarded.

But reached later Wednesday, state Sen. Tim Solobay, D-Canonsburg, said he was optimistic that the money would come through.

“The status is the borough has received a letter from the previous governor’s office. The new governor is reviewing all those proposals and has commented that as long as the entity has received a prior letter it is his plan to allow them to be processed,” Solobay. “I have 14 different RCAPs that have received letters in the district that represents $8 million. We expect all of those to be awarded.”