Deadline Closer to Solve Ford City Grant Debt
by Jonathan Weaver
Weeks have turned into days until Ford City Borough Council members must submit proposals to pay off a nearly-$520,000 debt.
An ad-hoc committee made up of Council members Vickie Schaub and Gene Banks, Planning Commission Member Tyson Klukan and Parks and Recreation Committee Member Stacy Klukan has met behind closed doors during the past six weeks to think up creative solutions to pay back a $519,000 September 2000 federal grant to the Economic Development Administration in Philadelphia.
The grant was utilized to rehabilitate the former PPG foundry along 2nd Avenue by the Greater Ford City Community Development Corporation and leased to Caracal manufacturing.
But, bankruptcies by both the CDC and Caracal and Borough Council allowed for the building to be repossessed by F&M Bank.
It is now home to OEM Shades and BelleFlex Technologies.
Regional Director Willie Taylor has been in communication formerly with Mayor Marc Mantini and most recently Schaub in regards to the matter. Before the ad-hoc committee meetings were closed to the public, Schaub said government entities might accept ‘cents on the dollar’ to resolve the issue.
Members were discussing transferring property or land ownership to Taylor and the EDA – including near the Ford City Community Ball Fields across the Ford City Veterans Bridge near the border with Cadogan Township.
Borough Council President Kathy Bartuccio was hopeful Council is prepared to pay off the loan once-and-for-all.
“I think we will be,” Bartuccio said. “We have a meeting (tonight) with the ad-hoc committee to (finalize) a few proposals for Willie Taylor. He wanted us to be creative with our proposals, so we’re trying to come up with those.
“We have to have it done by the end of the month…but they’re just proposals. It’s nothing we’ve voted on yet or anything.”
The Community Development Corporation filed for bankruptcy in Fall 2008 after the Borough terminated its management agreement with them earlier that year.
The bank foreclosed on the aforementioned property in December 2010 and was acquired by F&M Bank.
About $10 million in federal and state grant funding was invested into the revitalization of that building.
A March 2010 letter from Former Council President John Lux requested then that Taylor and the Economic Development Administration reconsider terminating financial assistance after they found out about the Sheriffs Sale to sell the property before the allowed time in 2017.
“A judgment against the Borough for this amount will lead to the Borough having to file bankruptcy,” a portion of the letter read. “There is simply no economic base that would enable the Borough to place this burden on the local residents.”
The Borough also maintained a $2.5 million budget at the time.
Legal proceedings were delayed because the EDA “did not want to inflict any more economic harm on Borough operations and services,” but four years later, no alternative solutions were given -as evident in a May letter to Mayor Marc Mantini.
That letter was not made known to the current Borough Council until days before the deadline, to which current-Borough Council President Kathy Bartuccio requested another extension (the current August 31 deadline).
In September 2009, Ford City Borough Council voted to pay off the loan with NexTier Bank – with a total payback slightly under $40,000 due to the waiver of legal fees.
A work session and council meeting scheduled for last night was canceled due to a lack of quorum.
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