The McKean County Commissioners, at their December 13 bi-monthly meeting, approved grant awards for McKean County Small Businesses and Municipalities utilizing over $1.5 million dollars of the County’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation.

“We are pleased that we can assist small businesses and our municipalities with funds in this time of economic recovery and stabilization.” Said Commissioner Tom Kreiner. “McKean County is pleased to offer financial resources to support projects that address the needs of our local communities.”

The McKean County Small Business Recovery Grants and the Municipal Recovery Grants provide a one-time infusion of financial resources to meet pandemic recovery needs and, moving forward, to rebuild the county economy.

A total of $130,000 has been awarded to sixteen McKean County small businesses. Grant amounts range in size from $5,000 to $10,000.  “The focus of the small business recovery grant program is not merely providing funds to businesses for revenue loss or to cover regular operating costs, but to invest in projects that can demonstrate measurable, sustainable, collaborative, and lasting improvements”, added Commissioner Carol Duffy. “Most impressive is that the business owners who were awarded grants will be investing an additional $314,463 into the selected projects.”

The grant awards will support projects related to energy efficiency, tourism, facility improvements, equipment upgrades, outdoor and mobile dining options, workforce training, employee retention, and environmental concerns.

In addition to the Small Business grant awards, the Commissioners have approved a total of $1,440,014 in ARPA funds to the municipalities in McKean County. The $1,000,014 has been awarded to cover projects related to infrastructure and blight remediation and an additional $440,000 will cover projects related to community development including parks & recreation.

“Each municipality will receive an infrastructure and blight remediation grant award based on its size and population,” noted Commissioner Cliff Lane. “These awards will allow municipalities to address needs related to blight remediation or infrastructure repairs or improvements.”

The funds will be used, but not limited to, addressing blight remediation as well as infrastructure concerns related to water, sewer, roads, culverts, and bridges. In addition, each municipality will receive a $20,000 grant for local community development projects or parks and recreation needs within the municipality.

Each municipality in McKean County received its own ARPA allocation from the federal government in mid-year 2021. Collectively, McKean County municipalities were allocated a total of almost $4.3 million dollars. When leveraged with the recently granted amount of $1,440,014 from the County, municipalities will now have  almost $6 million dollars at their disposal to meet municipality needs.  

“Awarding grants directly to municipalities allow each one to assess and decide how to best utilize ARPA funds based on their own municipal historical and current needs as well as budget concerns,” added Kreiner.

Including the Small Business and Municipality grants approved today, the McKean County Commissioners have invested a total of $2,346,196 to assist small businesses, municipalities, non-profits, county-affiliated agencies, the Bradford Regional Airport, and the McKean County Industrial Development Council in meeting economic recovery needs. Ann Robinson serves as ARPA Coordinator for the County, a newly created position to assist with managing the funds.

The far-reaching effects of the pandemic have had a significant impact in McKean County and, moving forward, the McKean County Commissioners and county staff will continue to thoughtfully gather information to properly prioritize the most effective and intentional uses of the county’s $7.8 million ARPA allocation.