ECGRA and County Executive to award multi-municipal cooperation grant

Today, County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper, County Council Chairperson Kyle Foust Ph.D., and North East Borough and Townships Officials will join the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority (ECGRA) to present 2018 multi-municipal grants.

 This is in support of a "historic shift toward intergovernmental cooperation between North East Borough and North East Township," ECGRA said in a press release earlier this week.

 In its ECGRA grant application, North East officials recognized the challenging nature of municipal service consolidation: "The hope is that with timely collaboration, cooperation, and cost sharing for professional services, a true merger could be realized.  The concept itself is far from innovative but the follow-through is somewhat innovative in Erie County. We are aiming at making our civil and smooth merger of services the benchmark for consolidation and municipal merger in Northwest Pennsylvania."

 The event took place at the North East Borough Hall at 10:30 a.m. on 31 West Main Street in North East.

 For 2018, over $450,000 will be awarded. This includes a grant that is set to help merge the operations of the borough and township water and sewer authorities. It will also fund the creation of a regional police commission.

 Other grant recipients are the City of Corry, City of Erie and Millcreek Township, Corry Industrial Benefit Association, Erie Area Council of Governments and Girard Township. – Hannah McDonald