rachelh@myweeklysentinel.com
TROY — Troy Borough Council met twice in the past week to first discuss business and then to reorganize for the 2022 year.
On Thursday, the council voted to adopt the 2022 budget, with no tax increase to borough residents.
Borough manager Dan Close reported and asked for approval on hiring Geist Water Consulting at a cost of $12,000/year as the borough’s circuit rider, until the necessary employees are able to train and take over.
Worker’s Comp and General insurance were also discussed, with a cost to the borough of $20,715 for worker’s comp and $52,451 for general insurance.
The bridge bundle project was discussed next, with an estimated cost of $2,100,000 for work on Redington and South Railroad Street bridges. Close mentioned that by bundling the bridges into one project for bidding, council could possibly money. Currently, Penn-Dot has said they would support an 80/20 retro-reimbursement agreement with the Borough.
In the agreement the Borough pays the total cost up front and then is reimbursed by the State for 80% of the cost. The reimbursement may not be available until 2024 or later.
The Bradford County Commissioners have verbally agreed to fund the 80% for the Borough pending the reimbursement but have not yet decided on the exact terms for an agreement.
The Central Bradford County Progress Authority is currently working with the Commissioners and the Borough to get an agreement in place. The Borough is also planning to submit an application for Multimodal Transportation Funding hoping to offset as much of the 20% as possible. Council voted to authorize the Manager to enter an agreement with P. Joseph Lehman, Inc. consulting engineers to begin the design phase of the project.
Council also approved a revision for planning on a Blue Ridge cable hub building, which is currently being worked on.
On Monday, three new councilmen were sworn onto council: Timothy Bruce, Kevin Zufall and John Raub. Council set Jason Hodlofski as president and John Davis as vice president.
Meeting dates were set as the last Thursday of each month (except November) at 3:30 p.m.