It's unfortunately two steps forward and one step back for the effort to reopen the Lansford Pool.

Next weekend, the nonprofit Friends of the Lansford Pool will hold their first major fundraiser to help renovate the pool, which is shuttered because of leaks. A poker run is scheduled for July 23 at the park, featuring a basket raffle, live music and food.But council members say that they recently missed a deadline to apply for grants for the project, blaming a consultant they hired to assist them.In April, council hired Wade Associates of Harrisburg to do a feasibility study on the pool. The study is needed to apply for grants from the state Department of Conservation of Natural Resources, Councilwoman Rose Mary Cannon said.Meetings were held, and council paid Wade $2,000 for their services. But Cannon said when the deadline for the grant came late last month, the report was nowhere to be found, despite assurances from the company's president, Randy Galiotto."He had talked to myself and said he was working on it. Then one of the pool fundraising groups, the chairman of that also called him and was told he would have it by the weekend. It didn't come," Cannon said.Cannon said Wade and Associates contacted her and other borough officials looking for email addresses to send the report. She said she contacted them one more time just before the June 30 deadline but the report never came.She said the borough's attorney is trying to get back the $2,000 that they paid Wade for the project.Councilman Matt Walsh asked if it meant they would have to delay the project another year. Before the deadline, when they were still planning on applying to DCNR, Galiotto told residents that the pool would be closed for two years at a minimum. Cannon wouldn't say how this would affect the project."If you want any grant money, you have to have a feasibility study," she said.Council also voted to hire Wendy Butrie as assistant secretary/treasurer at a rate of $10 an hour. She is the wife of councilman Joseph Butrie, who abstained from the vote. Jared Soto and Rose Mary Cannon voted against. Colin Jones, John Turcmanovich and Matt Walsh voted for Butrie.