RIDGWAY – Three local companies, including McCourt Label Co. in
Lewis Run, were approved for loans during Wednesday’s meeting of
the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development
Commission’s executive board.
McCourt requested loans in order to acquire additional equipment
to upgrade the printing capacity of the existing business.
The application was approved, with $200,000 coming from the
Small Business First Fund, $100,000 from the Appalachian Regional
Commission Revolving Loan Fund and $100,000 from the Intermediary
Relending Program.
The loan will help the company purchase a five-color printer,
make improvements to the building and improve the disposal of
waste.
McKean County Commissioner John Egbert abstained from voting
because he still owns a small amount of stock in the company.
Meanwhile, J&S Grinding Co. Inc., of Ridgway requested
funding to allow employee Shelley Schneider to acquire the existing
machine shop because the current owner is retiring.
The assets of the business would be sold to production and all
the jobs would be retained.
Officials granted a loan of $200,000 coming from the Small
Business First Fund and $57,500 coming from the Appalachian
Regional Commission Revolving Loan Fund.
The final loan application discussed was from Kenneth Finn,
owner of Finn’s Restaurant in Wilcox.
The board decreased the amount it would lend from $130,000 to
$100,000, which coincided with a decrease in a loan from County
National Bank. The decrease was because the property appraisal came
in lower than anticipated.
In other news, the board reviewed three applications for project
funding.
An application requesting Intermediary Relending Program funding
from B&M Lindemuth Water Well Drilling to purchase equipment
for the expansion of an existing water well drilling businesses in
Brockway was approved. The total cost of the project is
$19,000.
Also approved was a request from Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
Inc., which asked for funding to continue the Local Government
Advisory Committee for the fiscal year beginning March 29 and
ending March 28, 2008. The total amount of the project is
$162,379.
Lastly, the board tabled a request for funding from Benezette
Township for its Act 537 sewage plan to build sewers and build a
wastewater treatment plant in the Village of Benezette.
The action was taken because figures had not been received from
Northwest Engineering Inc., which is in charge of the project.
The board also approved GIS Coordinator Kurt Barclay’s request
to purchase seven Global Positioning Units, which were funded
through a state grant awarded in January.
The seven GPS units would total $43,310.65. One unit would be
distributed to each county and become the sole property of that
county; the seventh unit would be a backup unit for county use.
The purchase necessitates that GIS would conflate local road
information to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
geometry as well as brings county data into compliance with the
Pennsylvania Geospatial Data Spatial Standards.
