Jonestown Borough Council cancels Market Street project

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Jonestown Borough Council voted 6-1 on May 6 to stop the Market Street project that has been in question for several months.

Madisyn Breiner voted no. She voted in favor of an earlier failed vote that would have put the project on pause until the borough heard more about additional funding.

The project was split into two sections. One included curb bumpouts in the square and surrounding intersections, and the other extended the curb by several feet to add more sidewalk. Completing both parts would have cost about $1.9 million, and about $1.3 million was covered by grants.

Council members discussed this project at length for the past several months, saying they’d be uncomfortable covering the entire difference between project cost and grant funding but might be willing to move forward if they got additional funding.

Engineer Stacy Longenecker said they wouldn’t have an answer about this funding until the end of September, but they were getting good feedback.

He said they were already about five months behind schedule, and he saw three options for council. They could cancel the project completely, they could delay a final decision until they hear back about additional funds, or they could commit to moving forward with or without the extra money.

Council member Jeffrey Schott was one of the more vocal council members to say they should stop the project. He said the borough is having financial troubles and is sitting below where the budget projected they would be for this time of the year.

“My ongoing concern on the Market Street project is how much we’ve got to spend yet to see what’s behind door number two, as far as how much money they can get us, much less than seeing what the bids are going to look like,” he said. “My concern, I will always express.”

Longenecker said it would have cost about $130,000 for the engineering team to continue on the project and meet PennDOT’s bid deadline at the end of the year, but he said that timeline was unlikely with the decision delays. The borough has already spent about $170,000 in the preliminary stages of the project, Schott told LebTown.

The costs would then be subject to the public bidding process, which could bring price tags higher than estimated.

“We’d probably be looking at spending all of liquid fuels fund, which would sacrifice other potential road projects … and our entire past surplus, which I usually refer to at the meetings as the rainy day fund,” he said. “So at minimum, we probably have to spend all those down to zero, and then the question is — which we won’t know until the bids come in — after we spend all this money, would we have to go beyond that and try and borrow money to finance this? My personal opinion is this is not worth borrowing money over.”

In other business, council: 

• Heard about the 2024 audit report from solicitor Colleen Gallo, which came back clean and with a recommendation that the borough move all accounts over to QuickBooks for easier tracking. Currently, only the general fund is tracked in QuickBooks, Gallo said.
• Is getting new estimates on five pending road repairs. They’re looking to get patches on South Water Street at West Market Street, Highland Drive at Houser House, North Lancaster Street at East Oak Street, and Mill Street and Blackberry Street. Council members said the last estimate was in the $7,000 range. 

Jonestown Borough Council will have its next regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on June 3 at 295 S. Mill St.