City Chooses Projects for Potentially Last CDBG Federal Funds

By Christopher Miller

LOCK HAVEN – Lock Haven City Council met Monday evening for their first meeting of July.

A discussion on the termination of future Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), and Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funds was up for discussion first under the Unfinished Business portion of the meeting.

“Funding under H.R. 1 also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for CDBG, CSBG, and HOME will be terminated under the bill as amended for the federal fiscal year starting October 1, 2025,” City Manager Greg Wilson said. “The 2025 CDBG period may be the final time we are discussing federal funding due to cuts to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding.”

“For decades the city has been benefitting and is currently looking at over $300,000 available for the year. These funds help us invest in our community development and housing to lower income residents, provides for upgrades to water and sewer infrastructure, and increases the quality of life for our residents, it makes the community more attractive. Ten years ago the city was sitting at a 40.7% poverty rate. Today that is down to 25%. This loss of funding will have a dramatic impact on our community well-being.”

Going further into the discussion, Wilson continued to read, “this affects job training programs, food assistance, homelessness prevention, child care, disaster relief, transportation for the elderly; the only program that is not impacted that STEP administers is Head Start.”

Council members commented on the Act, saying that “we are not the only community this size to be affected, every community across the commonwealth will be affected by this, it boggles the mind,” Rick Conklin commented.

Mayor Joel Long made the comment that the loss of CDBG dollars in the future means that it is a significant loss to infrastructure funding, and that this is “one of the most effective funding sources for infrastructure that everybody needs,” citing that money has been used in the past for improvements to roads, water, sewer, and parks.

“This is not free money,” Wilson added. “There are very few ways locals can see where their taxes are going, there are very few things that the federal government does that trickles down to the local level like this does.”

After a lengthy discussion on possible projects, city council unanimously approved the following projects for applications for CDBG funding to be made to:
Hanna Park improvements: new pickleball courts, park restroom renovation for ADA compliance, crushed stone,, and improvements to the access road and paving, for a total of $159,500
Race Street improvements for a total of $60,075
Proposed by council member Steve Stevenson, these projects are to be funded by CDBG funds as long as the PA Department of Community & Economic Development (DCED) approves them. He proposed increasing the amount of funding requested for the Hanna Park improvements to $246,925 with the remainder to fund the Race Street improvements.

The representative from SEDA-COG who will be making the applications was present Monday night, saying that the city would not see these funds until 2026 with a possible construction season starting in 2027.

Other projects on the table for funding will be granted funding by other means, with improvements and repaving of 3rd and 4th streets being funded by Liquid Fuels money, and a new apparatus bay floor for Lock Haven Fire Department and a new natural gas-powered generator for Lock Haven EMS being funded as a donation through the city’s capital projects fund.

Applying for CDBG funds for Hanna Park almost hit a wall if it were not for an impassioned plea from City Planner Abbey Roberts, citing that the play equipment is potentially unsafe and needs to be removed.

“If we cannot replace the play equipment then it needs to be removed,” she said.

Roberts also added that she is working to have a fitness court added to the park as well.

The final public hearing of CDBG projects will be at Council Chambers on Monday, August 4 at 7 p.m.