With a backlog of local public works projects, county officials didn't have to look far to find a place to spend $903,494 in federal stimulus money.
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But picking projects that were ready to go right away was a little harder.
This morning, Lancaster County Commissioners signed off on plans to use money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to complete sewer system projects in Kinzers, Talmage and Columbia.
Matthew Sternberg, executive director of the Lancaster County Housing & Redevelopment Authority, said the sewer work could begin faster than some transportation upgrades, making them more suited to meet the Recovery Act's "shovel-ready" requirement.
The local projects, grant amounts and descriptions are:
• Kinzers Phase IV Sanitary Sewer Extension; $117,000; adding a sewer line on the south side of Route 30, west of North Kinzers Road.
• Village of Talmage Sanitary Sewer Project; $250,000; providing sanitary sewer service to the village of Talmage.
• Columbia Borough Sanitary Sewer Line Replacement; $486,494; replacing 1,889 feet of failing 8-inch sewer lines, building 12 manholes and restoring disturbed paving.
The stimulus money will pay for roughly 80 percent of the projects' costs, with the local municipalities picking up the rest of the tab. Five percent of the award, or $50,000, will be spent on administrative costs.
Absent the new federal money, the three sewer projects would have been put on a waiting list to be funded out of the county's annual allocation from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, according to Sternberg.
"It is a real boon to the community to be able to not have to wait for the annual cycle," Sternberg said Tuesday.
Also this morning, commissioners approved a $720,000 contract with MWF Enterprises Inc. to continue helping the county prepare for a new emergency radio system.
The two-year contract will pay the Harrisburg company to provide a variety of services, including the ultimate purchase, installation and implementation of a new county public safety radio system.
Mike Weaver, director of Lancaster County-Wide Communications, said Tuesday that there is no timeline for rolling out the new system, saying the process is slowed by the involvement of the Federal Communications Commission in the detailed negotiations about dividing up the radio spectrum.
In other business, on Tuesday commissioners gave county Treasurer Craig Ebersole the go-ahead to explore letting taxpayers pay their bills with a credit card, debit card or electronic check.
Staff writer Chad Umble can be reached at cumble@LNPnews.com or 481-6031.
