Mother Nature and time have taken their toll on the retaining walls flanking the Centre County Courthouse, and county officials are seeking some grant money to repair the damages.
Sue Hannegan, assistant director of the Centre County Planning and Community Development Office, visited the Centre County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 28 to ask the board to support submitting an application for funding through the Keystone Historic Preservation Construction Grants program. She said the grant request is for $100,000.
Commissioners supported the request.
According to Hannegan, the walls were constructed from stone when the courthouse was built in 1865. The concrete, she believes, was added directly to that brick wall when the courthouse underwent renovations in the 1960s.
“We believe the stone walls are still there, but we won’t know exactly what’s there until we start construction,” said Hannegan.
Although both sides are deteriorating, they do not present a danger to the public, she said.
Should the grant be awarded, the county would kick in the additional $107,000 for the project, which comes in at an estimated cost of about $207,000.
Work would begin on the project sometime in 2018, with work on one side. The other wall would be handled during the 2019 construction season, with full completion of the project by October 2019.
In other business, the commissioners:
■ Announced a brochure design contest for SpringBoard, the Bellefonte business incubator. This contest will be open to all Centre County residents. Special electronic hardware needed to design the brochure will be presented to students at Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology and South Hills School of Business and Technology. Non-students interested in the contest can call (814) 355-6700 for more details.
■ Approved a Department of Environmental Protection grant agreement for funds to repair flood-damaged sections of streams at four locations in Centre County. The amount is not to exceed $60,000.
■ Renewed a contract with WIT Inc. for the annual maintenance of QlikView software. The contract total is $7,688.07.
■ Renewed a contract between the county and Community Help Centre to continue providing information and referral services via the Community Help Line, 24 hours per day and seven days a week to all Centre County residents. The contract total is $70,000.
