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DUNCANSVILLE -- As the one of two borough police cruisers is nearing the end of its service life, Duncansville Borough Council authorized police Chief/Borough Manager Rodney Estep to apply for grant funding to acquire a new police vehicle.
The current 2017 Ford Police Interceptor is beginning to show its age, with several mechanical issues adding up to a mounting bill of required repair work, Estep said, adding that "in our line of work, 2017 is ancient."
Estep will apply for about $73,000 in funding through the statewide Local Share Account program run by the Department of Community and Economic Development.
The LSA program, which is drawn from a tax on horse racing and gaming revenue in Pennsylvania, has been one of the premier grants available to municipalities since its inception in 2004.
With no required matching local contribution and a $1 million award cap per recipient, the LSA grant program is incredibly competitive, with thousands of applications submitted annually.
Estep said that if awarded, the Duncansville Police Department will use the funding to purchase a new Ford F-150 Police Responder pickup truck.
Other business
Estep said that the borough is in preliminary stages of planning a stream bank stabilization project at three sites along Gillans Run in collaboration with the Blair County Conservation District.
As the project is still in its infancy, Estep did not have a definite scope of work or project timeline to offer, but was hopeful that funding for the stabilization work would come from grant funding that had been previously awarded to the conservation district.
Work on the Duncansville Memorial Park band shell will begin later this month, as the borough approved a bid submitted by Ervin Lapp of Eden Valley Landscaping to use $26,000 of capital awarded through a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources mini grant.
Estep said that he anticipates work on the band shell -- a permanent wooden pavilion that can host a variety of performance events -- will be completed by early September.
Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz is at 814-946-7535.