Lansford Borough is at “a critical juncture” dealing with leadership transitions and operational issues, an initial assessment from Lafayette College’s Robert B. and Helen S. Meyner Center said.

Borough council received the initial assessment compiled from interviews with staff and council earlier this month.

Nicole Beckett, a former borough employee who is now the associate director for public service at the center, conducted the interviews in early February. The group offers outreach services that help state and local governments to be more efficient and effective.

“Like many small Pennsylvania municipalities, Lansford has experienced leadership transitions, organizational change, and operational challenges that have compounded over several years,” the assessment said.

“The current administrative staff and council leadership are working to stabilize operations, and there is evident commitment across all participants to improving the borough,” the initial report continues.

“However, fundamental structural and organizational issues will need to be addressed to build a sustainable foundation for the future,” it said.

The assessment looks at communication, roles and responsibilities, organizational infrastructure, professional development and training, council alignment and decision making, staff support and retention, and public trust and external dynamics.

No document review, financial analysis or review of borough records was conducted as part of the assessment, the report said.

Council President Joe Genits said he is planning a special meeting on March 26 at 6 p.m. for Beckett to come to the borough and present the initial findings, as well as what the center could offer the borough.

The presentation would not cost the borough any additional funds beyond the five hours at $125 an hour that it agreed to pay for initial assessment, he said.

The center’s rate is $125 an hour, and the organizational assessment would take 80 to 104 hours over six to nine months; strategic planning another 24 to 40 hours after the first phase, and four to six hours a month afterward to provide ongoing support, the assessment said.

The overall cost would be $20,000 to $30,000 on the high end, depending on how much work council wants done, Genits said.

Mayor Denise Leibensperger asked if the borough would be receiving the $80,000 matching grant it sought from the Strategic Management Planning Program through the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

Councilman Bruce Markovich said no decision has been made on that grant yet, and Councilwoman Michele Bartek said that a decision had been made and the borough didn’t receive it.

Markovich, a former council president who handled grants, explained to Bartek that she was referring to a different round of grant funding and a decision hasn’t been made yet. Bartek now heads the council’s economic development/tourism/grant development committee after Markovich declined to serve as its chairman.

Borough Secretary Ashley McLaughlin confirmed that the borough will receive notification on the grant for the strategic management program between February and April.

Councilman Jack Soberick said that council could hold off on a decision on Lafayette’s program until they hear on the grant.

The Lafayette program, Genits said, would cost a quarter of what the state’s strategic management program would, but council members expressed concerns about not waiting for the grant.

Should Lansford receive the matching grant and then refuse it because it went with a different program, the borough might not receive future grants from the agency, council members said.

The matching grant would cover half of the cost for Kafferlin Strategies to perform a review of the borough’s operations, an audit and do a five-year strategic plan. The cost was $79,550, which would be offset by the 50/50 matching grant, and the borough could apply for a financial hardship to reduce its match.

The strategic management planning program would review the borough’s overall operations, including a financial condition assessment, a management audit of all departments and operations, a review of investments, employee work agreements, union contracts, health care costs and borough ordinances.

Genits said that council has other items to address at the special meeting March 26, and Beckett can further explain the executive summary that borough received and what Lafayette can do for the borough.

Beckett could also explain what she can do for the borough versus the DCED program, and what the DCED program can do that she can’t, Genits said.