Schuylkill Haven borough officials want area business owners who were financially impacted by COVID-19 to know that funding may still be available to help out.
Borough administrator Jessica Seiders says Community Development Block Grant-CARES Act/Covid Funding is for small businesses that were hurt during the pandemic.
“There is still money available,” Borough Council Vice President Tom Gordon said at the Feb. 1 council meeting. “Most of the businesses (who have benefited from the grant) were surprised they were eligible.”
The grant window has been extended to May 31. Seiders says the best way to determine if a business is eligible is to contact a Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance program representative at 570-891-4649. NEPA is managing the program eligibility factors.
In other business, Mayor Michael Devlin updated council on the pending new Island amphitheater stage. He said design drawings are near final.
“It is exactly what we have been looking for,” Devlin said.
The mayor expressed gratitude to the people at Miller Brothers Construction for their hard work in designing the long-awaited project. “We are very grateful on behalf of the island committee and borough council,” Devlin said.
Devlin said the construction crew is fully aware of the August deadline for Island Fest. “That’s our goal,” he said.
The amphitheater stage will be built using an open steel design with a top covered with metal, 25 feet high.
In miscellaneous business:
• Logan Wiederhold was officially sworn in by Devlin to the borough fire police.
• Fire police assistance to the Schuylkill Haven PTO was approved for March 24 and 25 for their basket raffle.
• Fire police assistance to Girardville for the March 25 Saint Patrick’s Day parade was denied due to lack of manpower, noting their request was on the same day as the borough basket raffle. “We would like to help them out, but we just don’t have the manpower that day,” Gordon summarized.
• Council approved allowing the Schuylkill Haven PTO to erect two signs along Parkway on March 24 and 25 to advertise the aforementioned basket bingo, as long as the signs are removed on the 26.
• Council passed a motion allowing a borough franchise agreement with Comcast to be extended seven years. “That will allow us the ability to move forward on finalizing an agreement,” borough solicitor Mark Semanchik said, saying that there has been an agreement on some but not all terms, but that passing an extension of the franchise agreement would allow negotiations to continue until settled. The motion passed unanimously.
• Councilman Jesse Kavanaugh took a moment to commend the Schuylkill Haven Police Department and Chief Jeffrey Walcott on training that the department supplies to surrounding departments.
“If more people trained like our department does, it would be better for everyone,” Kavanaugh said, referencing the well-known Tyre Nichols police brutality case in Memphis, Tenn. Semanchik backed Kavanaugh up on his sentiments, noting that he knows of “a number of municipalities who look to Schuylkill Haven as the model police department.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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