Council recently approved a resolution that authorizes the city to enter a $135,293.90 contract with InnoTek Computer Consulting for upgrading computers, software and other information technology equipment at city hall.
One of several state grants that the city secured through the Act 47 program will pay for the work, Mayor Jeff Cusat said. The city secured pricing through a state cooperative purchasing program known as COSTARS.
“There should be an overhaul to the entire system,” Cusat said.
Grants similar to the one the city secured for computer upgrades were part of a financial recovery plan that city council adopted in June 2017.
The Act 47 program offers grants and other assistance to communities that are deemed financially distressed by the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Grants are intended to promote “fiscal stability” and are awarded for developing and implementing long-term financial, managerial and economic development strategies, according to the state act.
In Hazleton’s case, city officials worked with financial consultants from Pennsylvania Economy League and DCED to develop a recovery plan that requested assistance for upgrading outdated computers, bolstering administrative staff, and engaging consultants for services that range from updating the city’s comprehensive plan and ordinances to assessing the parking system.
State officials approved the grants that were included in Hazleton’s recovery plan, said Jim Rose, a local government policy specialist with DCED’s Governor’s Center for Local Government Services.
For Hazleton, the city will complete IT and computer upgrades and file with the state for reimbursement, Rose said.
“It’s all approved so they can go ahead with it,” Rose said of the project.
Additional grants that are listed in the recovery plan include:
- $40,000 for supplementing salary and benefits for an assistant director of administration.
- That post is new and would be part of an administrative team that includes Director of Administration Dan Lynch and Joseph Niemiec, who has been working on an “as-needed” basis for the administrative department, Cusat said.
- Niemiec has been working “a couple hours per week” at $42 per hour since January 2018, according to Cusat.
- Officials are working on a job description for the assistant director and Cusat said that he hopes to fill the position later this year.
- A $30,000 grant to pay a consultant to evaluate whether fees charged by the city cover costs incurred for providing services.
- Up to $20,000 for paying a consultant to update city code. The city code book was last updated in 2002 and ordinances that have been adopted since then are not available in a centralized, searchable database, the recovery plan states. “This lack of organization makes it difficult to enforce the City’s various codes and ordinances,” the plan reads. “In addition, it also makes difficult differentiating the functions actually performed by the City and its staff.”
- A grant of up to $30,000 for updating Hazleton’s comprehensive plan. The plan is intended to guide future growth and development. The most recent plan dates to 1992.
- Up to $25,000 for paying a consultant to evaluate capital needs of Hazleton’s parking system and for developing a demand assessment of off-street and on-street parking.
