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Two Northern Blair County municipalities will take advantage of federal stimulus dollars to improve recreation facilities.

Tyrone Borough Council and the Antis Township Board of Supervisors voted this month to go forward with applications for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act dollars being funneled through the state's Department of Community and Economic Development.

"Local entities have a great deal of certainty that they're going to be approved," said Ed Geiger, director of DCED's Center for Community Development.

Each municipality will have about $33,000 to spend as additional Community Development Block Grant funds, federal Department of Housing and Urban Development money passed along to the municipalities through DCED.

In Tyrone, the money will go toward purchasing new playground equipment at Reservoir Park, replacing outdated equipment at two spots at the upper end of the park.

On Monday, the council selected units featuring climbers, an "orbital spinner," a wall climber and a spiral slide to replace decades-old pieces of equipment.

The borough's business manager Phyllis Garhart said the bid accepted by council was $37,315 and said an additional $23,000 is left over from a recent project at Reservoir Park. Garhart said in addition to the equipment, the borough also will have to make the play areas accessible to the disabled and put down the required safety pads.

The equipment will be placed between pavilions five and six, replacing the large spider and merry-go-round and at the upper playground. Garhart said the swings at the upper playground also will be refurbished as part of the job.

Antis Township, which is in the process of taking over administration of its CDBG funds from the Blair County Planning Commission, will put the $33,470 toward completing Americans with Disability Act-compliant pathways between the Bellwood footbridge and the Bellwood-Antis Park complex, plus adding disabled parking spaces at the caboose.

Antis Township Manager Jeff Ziegler said the application was sent in and now it's a matter of waiting for the state to review it and disperse the funds.

Geiger said DCED has until the end of this month to submit the projects to HUD for review and said although the federal government hasn't given a time frame for when municipalities will receive the money, it likely will come by October or November.

"Of course, if HUD turns these around before that, there is a chance we could get the contracts out sooner and still be able to catch a piece of the construction season," Geiger said.

In all, HUD is expected to send an additional $58 million in CDBG funds to Pennsylvania as part of the Recovery Act.