SMETHPORT — The McKean County Commissioners agreed Tuesday to authorize the county’s redevelopment authority to file the appropriate application with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development to secure funding on behalf of the 20-non-entitlement municipalities.
McKean County has been allocated $223,317 of the Commonwealth’s Community Development Block Grant Program from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for fiscal year 2017.
The county commissioners have reviewed the funding requests from the 20 non-entitlement municipalities and have determined the best use of this funding would be to authorize the following activities: $70,000 for the low and middle income housing rehab project in Lewis Run; $55,000 for Kane Borough’s LMI housing rehab project; and $58,127 for McKean County’s spot demolition program for the county’s non-entitlement municipalities — those municipalities that do not get their own block grant funding.
The remainder of the block grant funding will be used for administrative fees that include accounting, rehab specialists and part of the authority’s executive director’s salary.
Commissioners also authorized the county redevelopment authority to file the appropriate application with DCED for Bradford Township’s allocation of $88,570 in block grant money. Commissioners and township supervisors have determined this funding could best be used for $70,000 for the municipality’s housing rehab program and $10,000 for its spot demolition program. The remainder of the funding will be used to administer the program.
In another vote, the commissioners approved submitting an application to the Pennsylvania Housing and Affordability Realty Transfer Tax Program for $125,000, of which $50,000 is to be appropriated to the McKean County Redevelopment Authority’s non-profit entity, A Partnership in Housing, and $75,00 to the YWCA Bradford.
A Partnership in Housing Inc. will manage the McKean County Bridge Housing Program, a rental assistance program designed to prevent homelessness or to quickly rehouse households in the county who have become homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness.
YWCA Bradford will provide shelter staff, case management and operations costs to expand shelter beds in their facility. Qualifying participants must meet the 30-50 percent area LMI.
In other matters, the county is to petition the McKean Court of Common Pleas to combine the Office of Prothonotary and Clerk of Courts. “This is a procedural matter,” said county solicitor Dan Hartle. “We will petition the court for a decree, which will be filed with the Recorder of Deeds. According to the Sixth Class County Code, one person may hold both offices.”
