Boro to seek grant for senior center upgrades

Boro to seek grant for senior center upgrades
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
The Eatontown Borough Council will seek funding from the county for upgrades to the Senior Center/Community Center located on Broad Street.

Eatontown Community Center KENNY WALTER Eatontown Community Center KENNY WALTER The council discussed submitting an application under the county’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and is expected to pass a resolution at its next meeting authorizing borough architect Kevin Settembrino to draw up an application for the funding.

According to the county website, the CDBG program awards almost $4 million annually for the county’s Housing Improvement Program, Fair Housing Board and Office and Emergency Home Repair Program as well as for nonprofit and municipal projects.

Eatontown Business Administrator George Jackson said at the March 3 council workshop meeting that the last CDBG the borough received was in 2006.

“We received back in ’06 a grant for over $180,000 to renovate our preschool/ community center annex,” he said. “I’d like to pursue another Community Development Block Grant to address the needs of our companion building, the senior center/community center.”

Jackson went on to say that the grant request in 2006 was designed to fund repairs to both buildings, but the funding was not available for both.

“The original application had renovations to both buildings,” he said. “The amount of money was far short to do both.

“There were a number of issues that were on the original application, but when it was re-examined, it was obvious that the funding wasn’t available to do both buildings,” he said. “We decided to narrow the scope to just the one building and do what we needed to do there.”

Jackson explained what the funding would be used for.

“We’d like to address a number of issues and we’d also like to address the playground equipment at the preschool.”

Some of the upgrades to the building would include the gutters, windows, doors, the front porch, the front and side steps, siding, and a rear deck.

Jackson said the building includes a large kitchen, front stage and multipurpose room and is used for all senior activities as well as other meetings.

He said the building’s condition is largely due to its age.

“It is a very, very old building,” he said. “I’m not even sure when it was built, and my understanding is that it was transported here from New York.”

Jackson gave some of the details of the application and the application process.

“The maximum amount we’d like to pursue is $250,000,” he said. “It’s been four years since we’ve applied.”

He said Settembrino would be hired to complete the application and help with the presentation to the county.

“He’s given us a proposal to do all this for $12,500,” he added. “He will prepare the application and assist in the presentation, and I will be doing that with him.”

The deadline for the submission of the application is June 4, and Jackson believes that the borough has a good chance of obtaining the funding.

“I think we stand a good chance of getting upwards of $150,000 to $200,000,” he said. “We’ve been out of the loop for several years, but I’ve been attending the presentations for the last two. This is a really good project.”

Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo approved of the project.

“I think we ought to go for it,” he said. “Seems like a reasonable proposal.”

Tarantolo took an unofficial vote of the council in which all six council members signed off on pursuing the grant.

Jackson suggested that the borough might want to look into matching a portion of the grant funding to make the application more attractive.

He confirmed that a resolution approving retaining Settembrino for the application would be on the agenda for the March 10 meeting.

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.


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