DUBOIS – A bond sale was approved by DuBois City Council on Monday that will save $1.5-million over the next 15 years.

While purchasing new debt, the city will be paying off three high-interest loans and lowering annual interest payments by $100,000.

City Council was also informed of the 2025 Community Development Block Grant award total – more than $306,000. Qualifying projects for which the grant money will be used will be considered, and public input and suggestions are welcome.

Here are the notes from the August 12, 2024 DuBois City Council meeting:

CDBG 2025 Funds

·Executive Director of the DuBois Revitalization Authority Joe Mitchell announced in a public hearing that the City of DuBois’ 2025 Community Development Block Grant award is $306,590.

·The City of DuBois will now consider projects to use this money for and is open to suggestions from the public.

·This money goes to the City not the Redevelopment Authority. It isn’t expected to be in the City’s hands until March or April of 2025.

·The City has until November 1, 2024 to submit its application for the money.

·The money has a list of limitations on what it can be used for. The biggest is it has to be used for low to moderate income individuals primarily. Example, for a non-profit organization to qualify for a project the City will be required to do an income survey of the families that would benefit from the project to make sure 50% of those families were moderate incomes or lower.

·According to Mitchell, preliminary date from a City wide study is suggesting that the City of DuBois’ average household income has dropped low enough that projects benefiting the entire City of DuBois population would qualify.

·Later in the meeting, the City Council authorized the first and second payments for the West Washington Avenue Waterline Replacement Project, totally $148,164.85. This project is being paid using a previous year’s CDBG monies.

Bond Sale

·The City Council voted and passed the second and final reading of the ordinance authorizing $16 million in bond and note sales.

·This new debt is split between two purposes. The bonds to pay off three existing high-interest rate loans with new debt at a lower interest rate. The notes are a short-term debt, three years max, to cover consolidation related expenses that will later be fully reimbursed by already promised grants.

HR Module Purchase

·The City Council approved the purchase of the Edmunds HR Module at $6,200 for a three-year contract. This is HR software that Sandy Township already is using.

·This software will let DuBois employees enter their time sheets and vacation requests digitally. Currently this is being done on paper.