Happy 2010 everyone! I hope you had a safe and joyous New Year's Eve!
I'm excited for this year! Looking back on 2009 and seeing what God
has done is incredible and amazing. Looking forward to a new year
makes me excited to see what He is going to do in and through us!
If you are making a New Year's Resolution consider this from the
apostle Paul:
"This year I resolve to know nothing but Christ and him crucified." 1
Corinthians 2:2
Now for what's happening at Open Arms.
Growth Groups for the Winter/Spring Semester: Sign ups will be in
January for the February through April semester. Be sure to sign up
for one!!
Membership Class Sunday, January 10 immediately following service.
Lunch will be provided.
Financial Peace University Preview: There will be a short video
preview of Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey on Sunday, Jan
17 immediately following service.
Superbowl Party: We will hold our annual Superbowl party Sunday,
February 7 at 6:00pm. Everyone bring a dish to pass and invite your
friends and family. Anyone who wants to enter our Wing Sauce
Competition can bring your best wing sauce. Prizes are given away
each quarter of the game.
Here’s a sneak peak at what’s coming up in the months ahead at Open
Arms!
January: Going Public – Many Christians hide their faith and only let
it come out at church on Sundays, but Jesus told us there is no such
thing as a closet Christian. It’s time to take our faith public. It’s
time to come out of the closet and let our light shine. What does it
mean to be a witness, to be a light, and what makes a person effective
in sharing their faith?
February: Finding Your Bella/Edward – Everyone is looking for that
perfect love. How do we find it and once we find it, how do we keep
it? (Special websites coming soon!)
March: Simple Life – God wants us to live a blessed life, but why does
it seem that so often our blessings are more of a curse? What did God
really have in mind with all this stuff?
April: Relationship Rescue – Everyday relationships are drowning with
no hope of help. Don’t panic, help is here. What are the not-so-secret
keys to Relationship Success and what do we do to rescue a seemingly
hopeless and drowning relationship?
May: Building A Better Life – We want “Skyscraper” lives, but start
with a one-story foundation. Find out what God intended each season of
life to teach and prepare us for success in the seasons to come and
find out how to go back and repair our mistakes.
Spread the word and invite your family and friends!
This weekend's message topic: The Chance To Make The Difference.
Sunday at 10:15. See you there!
--
Open Arms Community Church
http://www.openarmsbradford.org1289 East Main Street
Bradford, PA 16701
openarms@openarmsbradford.org
Roulette Township was awarded the $60,000 grant a year ago. To date there has been no correspondence to Roulette from CDBG that the paperwork wasn't specific enough in detail. When calls were made to Joe Pagano's office regarding this grant, the township was told that because of the economic downswing, the money was not readily available.
Sunday, January 3, 2010 7:50:00 AM EST
I guess that I will chime in so that people are aware of the facts, even though I am sure that I will be chastised for it.
As poster Sunday, January 3, 2010 7:50:00 AM EST stated, the last that we were told was that the grant was approved but we would have to wait until 2010 to receive it because of the state funding crisis that took place in 2009 with the budget. The paperwork was all filed in a timely fashion and correctly. There are very specific details in the request, and until I read this article, had no inclination to the contrary from Mr. Pagano's office.
The detail specific grant request was to partially fund, Roulette Township was going to have to come up with $20,000.00 of the $80,000 project cost, a water system betterment. This betterment was in 3 parts. Replace approximately 200 ft of old cast iron piping at the bottom end of 4th Street, install a 150gpm pump in Well #4 increasing its output from 60 gpm, and to install piping from Well #4 to the distribution system to increase the chlorine contact time for the water from this well with the flow increase making it conform to state standards.
What you all need to know is this, the increase in flow from Well #4 is not something that the Township has pulled out of the air to make things better, it is a REQUIREMENT mandated by the DEP. We are required to either increase the flow rate from an existing well or drill additional wells to allow an increase to meet state defined requirements. The supervisors have spent thousands of dollars testing this well to insure that it is capable of producing the additional flow. It was decided that this would be the best and most cost effective manner of meeting the state requirements.
That being said, Roulette Township is mandated to do this betterment. It is not an issue of, not having enough money to do it so we will wait until we do. It must be done, and done within a specific time frame. If the Township does not receive this grant, the burden of the entire cost will be put on the shoulders of the Township. What this means to you all, is there will be no alternative, other than to secure a loan for the total cost, triggering a necessity for a substantial rate increase to all of it's customers. I am sure that this is something that none of you want.
So, rather than spending your time bashing the Township, the Supervisors, the Employees, the County, and the Presidents, your time would be better spent utilizing the link that was supplied in the article to email Mr. Pagano and tell him what you think.
Personally, I don't see how the needs of 1 family outweighs the needs of needs of 400+ families. I will be sending him an email next to make sure he knows what I am thinking as well. Let's hope that he will remember that the details were very specific in needs and requirements and reconsider his decision.
Sunday, January 3, 2010 11:07:00 AM EST
Thank you Jon for your input. I, too was not aware of any changes made to the funding from CDBG. If the township had infact made some errors when applying for this grant, we were not informed about any error, infact we were told that the funding was being delayed due to the economic crisis and also waiting to hear if the township needed to do another income survey. Somehow, now it has turned into "lack of detail" I also agree with you, instead of bashing the township, employees, the county, or whoever seems to be the bone of someone's contention, think past that and what this means to every tax payer in Roulette. You people that continually bash -- please stop as this is a very serious matter to the township and its residents.