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Walnutport receives $115,000 in grant funding

Walnutport has received a $115,000 grant to be used toward several projects in the borough.

Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure presented the borough with the check at Thursday’s borough council meeting.

The check was a combination of $65,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding, along with $50,000 in Grow NORCO Grant funding.

Borough council thanked McClure, who in turn urged the borough to continue to apply for grants.

The $65,000 in CDBG funding will be used toward Willow Avenue street construction, while the $50,000 in Grow NORCO funding will be for a new tractor with boom mower.

Later on at the meeting, borough grant coordinator Mike Wentz said the borough now has $200,000 set aside for the Willow Avenue street construction project.

Wentz said the project could get underway in the middle to latter part of 2026, and is a joint effort between the borough and the Walnutport Water Authority.

He said the project will replace the water line, provide new services to the homes, replace a fire hydrant and repave the entire street.

In January, borough council agreed to rescind a motion from the Nov. 7, 2024, meeting to purchase a new tractor with boom mower using the statewide Local Share Account grant up to $182,000.

Afterward, council at its January meeting agreed to purchase a new tractor with boom mower using the statewide LSA grant (and other grants) up to $224,000.

Wentz, who also serves as the borough’s public works director, explained that as of this year, the John Deere Company is not putting the transmission the borough wanted in that series tractor, so it had to go to a different series and costlier tractor.

The balance will be made up in a trade-in on the borough’s 1995 tractor with a 15-foot boom mower that is uses to cut at the canal. It’s has been getting harder to get parts for the 1995 mower.

Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, center, presents Walnutport Borough with a $115,000 check at Thursday’s borough council meeting. Also pictured are borough grant coordinator Mike Wentz, left, and borough council President Michael Gaston. TERRY AHNER/TIMES NEWS