Published: November 13, 2009 11:05 pm      

Grant writer to be hired

PORTAGE — After months of planning, the three municipalities comprising Portage Area School District have ironed out administrative issues and are ready to hire a grant writer.

Jerry Brant of Patton and his consulting company, Decoplan Associates LLC, should be on board and beating the bushes for state and federal funding programs by Jan. 1, local officials said.

Brant will work on a consulting basis for Portage and Cassandra boroughs and Portage Township.

Portage council President Sharon McCarthy said, “They’ve gotten all of the questions cleared up. The problems have been taken care of.”

The process of developing the grant writer position and agreement between the municipalities and Brant slowed in October when Portage Borough solicitor Michael Emerick raised a number of questions about wording in the agreement.

The three communities, which have formed a regional alliance to work together in a number of areas, will advertise their intentions to enter into an agreement with one another for the initiative.

Portage Township Supervisor Kenneth Trimbath said, “All of the i’s have been dotted and all of the t’s crossed. We’ll approve the ordinance at next month’s meeting. Hopefully, he’ll start Jan. 1.”

Brant, 56, comes to the position with an extensive background of finding money to meet needs in small communities. He retired last year from NORCAM, now Northern Cambria Community Development Corp., after spending 20 years as the nonprofit organization’s president.

“From what I understand, we’ll sit down and develop a wish list and see what they would like to have,” Brant said recently. “Then it’s just finding what is available and seeing what’s out there.”

Brant will receive a monthly stipend of $500 to be split among the three municipalities based on population. Also planned is a 1 percent incentive taken from eligible grant funds he brings in.