Split Upper Pottsgrove vote OKs $1M grant application for new public works building

UPPER POTTSGROVE — It was necessary to call commissioners’ Chairman Trace Slinkerd in his sickbed Monday night in order to get enough votes to apply for a $1 million grant to help pay for a new public works building.

Slinkerd was absent from Monday’s meeting due to being home ill, it was announced at the start of Monday’s monthly meeting, which was run by Vice President Hank Llewellyn.

But when agenda “item D” came up under new business, Township Solicitor Eric Fry was ready when it became evident the vote to apply for a Local Share grant from the Department of Community and Economic Development might end in a 2-2 tie.

The grant program distributes gambling proceeds from the state’s casinos for a variety of municipal projects and does not require a local match.

Votes to apply for grants from the same program for police and public works equipment sailed through with 4-0 votes, but this one was different.

The plan to build a new public works building is part of the controversial plan to build a new township complex on part of the 35-acre Smola Farm, which was purchased in 2009 as a way to preserve open space. Two of the board’s commissioners — Cathy Paretti and Dave Waldt (who were both just re-elected) — have both opposed the project since it was unveiled to the public in August 2022.

Since that time the project, originally estimated at $5 million, has evolved and gotten more expensive. A Right to Know request by resident Matt Murray revealed this August, despite still being partially redacted by the township, that township documents show cost estimates for the project now go as high as nearly $8.8 million.

And those costs no longer included a public works building, which now appears on those documents as part of “phase 2.”

Before the vote could be cast, Fry interjected and said Slinkerd had informed Fry prior to the meeting he could be available for a phone call in case a tie vote loomed, which is exactly what happened, and how the vote to apply for the grant was passed in a 3-2 vote.

“I think this is premature,” Paretti said before casting her vote. “This matter is currently the subject of litigation. How can we apply for money to build a building when we don’t know where it’s going to be located yet?” she asked.

Waldt noted that the township’s grant application to the same program last year for money to help build the township administration and police headquarters part of the project was not successful.

Paretti said she worried that once the litigation is settled and a final decision is evident, the township “will have no credibility with DCED” should it apply again. “They like to see things all wrapped up,” she said.

The deadline to submit the grant is Nov. 30 and grant awards will not likely be announced until March 2024 said Township Manager Michelle Reddick.

“I’m willing to bet the litigation will be done by then,” said Commissioner Don Read.

“I’m not a betting woman,” Paretti replied.

The litigation to which the commissioners referred was filed in February by Murray and Nathaniel Guest and seeks to stop the new township complex project from moving forward because, they argue to do so would violate the purpose of buying the land — the preserve open space in the township — and the law which governs such purchases.

Read insisted the site favored by the majority will be the location for the new complex and not the township property located on Heather Place near the interchange with Route 100. Currently that site is occupied by the police station and public works garage, as well as a park and veteran’s memorial.

“I’m not tearing up a park and I am not tearing up a Veteran’s memorial,” Read said.