Jim Thorpe borough is hoping to move forward this week with one of three proposed improvement projects at its fire stations.

When council meets on Thursday, it will vote on repairing the bay floor at the Onoko Fire and Rescue station on the east side of town.

“We had originally applied for and received a Local Share Account grant to do three projects, the Onoko floor being one of them, but unfortunately with the prices the way they are now, the grant will only cover one of those projects,” Borough Manager Maureen Sterner said last week.

The Onoko floor will cost $5,300, Sterner said, and could be paid out of excess health insurance funds and the general fund.

“The bay floor should be a quick fix,” Councilman Jay Miller said during the borough’s September workshop meeting. “You box up the concrete, pour it and you’re done. It’s the other two projects I’m concerned about because we’re running out of good weather to get them done.”

Those other two projects include a roof replacement at the Onoko fire station and repairs to the bay window frame at the Diligent Fire Company No. 3. The $32,000 LSA grant, Sterner said, would cover most of the Onoko roof work, which will have to be bid out due to increasing estimates.

“We didn’t think we would have to bid it out based on our original estimate, but everything has gone up with COVID-19,” Sterner said. “We’re waiting on our engineer to get the bid specifications together so we can get that out for contractors to look at.”

Earlier this year, the borough said the wood around the window had started to deteriorate. Miller said there was about a 2-inch gap underneath the roof where rain is getting through, potentially causing damage.

“It is specialized work,” Miller said of the repairs. “There is back-cutting wood, there is bending wood involved. It’s not just your average two-by-four and that isn’t to knock anybody, it’s just to show it’s difficult to get someone who can do it.”

Jim Thorpe has to get three quotes for the Diligent bay window work, and as of last week, it had just one.

“The bidding process, it’s frustrating,” Miller said. “It belabors us getting this work done. I’m not sure who we’re going to get. We’re going to have to make a couple calls to contractors.”