Kittanning Paper - All Local... All the Time!

Kittanning Donates to River Non-Profit Group

Councilwoman Kim Fox (left) recommended $1,000 be donated to the Allegheny River Development Corporation to help re-open the Allegheny River lockages - including Lock 7 in Kittanning - last night.

By Jonathan Weaver

The Allegheny River Development Corporation got a boost in donations from Kittanning Borough Council last night.

Striving to raise a total of $40,000 in match funds to trigger a $120,000 grant, Councilwoman Kim Fox recommended Kittanning Borough contribute $1,000 of the excess revenue remaining in this year’s budget.

“I think it’s really viable for this town to have those locks open to have the boaters coming in and spending money in town,” Fox said. “It’s so beneficial for our town to have (the river locks) open for the businesses. A lot of them come up through and go to all of our restaurants, so I think it’s really important for the borough.”

A former boater herself, Fox also usually attends Arts on the Allegheny summer concerts at the John Murtha Amphitheater in Riverfront Park.

Council members unanimously agreed with Fox.

Allegheny River Development Corporation President Linda Hemmes said she was surprised with the donation.

“That’s awesome – absolutely wonderful,” Hemmes said. “It was a wonderful thing to do – very unexpected (but) very much appreciated- and certainly I think it was a very responsible municipal thing to do because I think they’ll see that money come back to them.”

In other news, Kittanning Borough Police Chief Bruce Mathews said the Civil Service Commission has completed the first round of evaluations to evaluate a potential full-time officer.

A total of eight applicants are now eligible for additional psychological, background and drug screening, and council members unanimously made an intent- to-hire agreement last night to hire the most-qualified candidate once the evaluations are complete.

There are currently seven full-time officers in the local police force, and Chief Mathews hopes an eighth (to replace Officer Eric Smith, who resigned August 9) will be hired soon. He said 11 individuals initially applied.

“It’s been a long process, but the Civil Service Commission recommends good, quality (applicants) and do the best to weed out any problems or naysayers,” Chief Mathews said. “We have a good group of guys here, and we want to keep it that way. We have a good reputation, and that doesn’t happen by accident.”

Of the 43 arrested by County and regional police units in a two-day raid in the middle of December, 22 were Kittanning Borough residents and others had ties to the community, Chief Mathews said.

Chief Mathews and Officers Baum, Buzzard, Blose and Koprivnak all participated in that raid, and he praised them for their participation.

“These investigations get very cumbersome – very tiresome – and they had a lot of man hours in this. This goes above-and-beyond their normal work week,” Chief Mathews said.

Chief Mathews said local officers are “always” conducting investigations.

“It’s never-ending,” Chief Mathews said. “The 22 directly in-town, there were five or 10 more that weren’t ready, but we were hoping. As long as people communicate and talk with us to fill in some of the gaps, we’re active. That’s part of our everyday job.”

All officers were sworn as officers with the Armstrong County Narcotics Enforcement Team (ARMNET) to give jurisdiction outside of Kittanning Borough

Last night’s meeting was recessed until Monday, January 26, when council members will reconvene to discuss how to utilize Community Development Block Grant dollars in 2015.

During the past few months, County Community Division Director Jennifer Bellas has been waiting for select local residents to return income surveys. Of about 50 percent of results needed, Bellas said last night only 20 percent of surveys have been mailed back completed.

With the application due to the Department of Community and Economic Development by March, Bellas recommended allocating all monies into housing rehabilitation until enough surveys are received for the selected project or another project decided by council members.

The January 26 meeting will begin at 7PM at the Borough Building. Other topics that will be discussed at the recessed meeting include flood insurance rate maps as well as from Solicitor Ty Heller on businesses placing signs on sidewalks.

Senate Engineering Company was re-appointed as the Borough engineer for 2015 after a 7-1 vote. Councilman David Croyle dissented.

Kittanning Borough | jweaver January 6, 2015