Sep 9, 2013 3 min read

CARMICHAELS – Cumberland Township supervisors announced Monday the township will use its 2013 Community Development Block Grant money to rehabilitate five houses in Nemacolin.

The proposed use of the $100,589 in funds was announced at a CDBG public hearing the supervisors held following their regular monthly meeting.

Marcia Sonneborn, the township’s CDBG administrator, said the money must be used on houses that are owner-occupied and whose occupants have a household income at or below Section 8 housing guidelines.

The basic grant that will be provided for each house is $16,000, though supplemental money is available for homes that have problems with lead, have historic house requirements or that need additional work to bring them up to code.

Applications will be accepted for the program. Sonneborn noted, however, the township now has a waiting list of homes from its previous housing rehabilitation program, some of which may be for homes in Nemacolin, that also must be considered for the grants. The grants will be awarded in the order in which the homeowner has applied, she said.

At a hearing on the use of the 2013 CDBG money in July, a resident had asked whether the money could be used to address the problem of blight in Nemacolin, noting that during the years many houses in the community have become rentals and have fallen into disrepair.

The supervisors agreed to use the 2013 money in Nemacolin to help improve the community, Sonneborn said. Changing the community, however, will take a consolidated effort by home owners, the township and others, she said.

A group recently formed in Nemacolin, which calls itself Nemacolin Neighbors United, is working to better the community, Sonneborn said. Those who have attended the group’s meetings in addition to Nemacolin residents, have included the supervisors, county commissioners and representatives of local churches and Greene County Human Services.

“We hope to stop what is happening in the community and reverse it,” Sonneborn said. “But to succeed, people have to be involved,” she said.

The supervisors voted to continue Monday’s meeting until 4 p.m. Sept. 19 at which time they will finalize the CDBG application.

In other business, a resident of Neff Road asked the supervisors to consider adopting a noise ordinance. The woman spoke of a neighboring property owner who frequently shoots guns, sometimes with friends or relatives, on his property.

The woman said she is not against guns but the noise from what must be high-powered rifles occurs frequently and sometime until as late as 10 p.m.

The supervisors asked the woman to circulate a petition among her neighbors and the supervisors would then address the issue.

Resident Emmett McKenzie asked the township to push for the county to form a department of health that could inspect the living conditions of some of the homes in the township.

Supervisor Bill Groves at an earlier meeting explained that while the township has ordinances to address certain conditions, a health department would be needed to inspect living conditions inside a home.

The issue had been discussed with the county, Groves said. The cost of forming a health department, however, made it prohibitive.

The supervisors accepted the resignations of two part-time police officers, Benjamin Thorn and Anthony Cancilla. It voted to hire Scott Kanotz and Margaret Vorum-Leonard as part-time officers at $12.50 an hour with no benefits.

The supervisors also voted to install a stop sign at the corner of Dowlin and South streets.