Jan 7, 2021 3 min read

The Washington County commissioners are expected to vote Thursday on whether to spend nearly $100,000 annually on a grant-writing consultant who they hope will net additional funding for projects.

The commissioners are poised to hire Salvo Strategies LLC of Pittsburgh and pay the Pittsburgh-based company $8,000 a month to research grant opportunities and submit applications on the county’s behalf.

Commissioners Diana Irey Vaughan and Nick Sherman said the consultant will help them find new funding sources, pointing to a federal preservation grant available to fix historic landmarks, which would have been useful before making repairs last year to the Washington County Courthouse.

“We as a county have been missing this component of bringing money to the county,” Irey Vaughan said Wednesday after the commissioners agreed to place the topic on the agenda for Thursday’s voting meeting. “We’ll see if it produces new resources. We believe it will.”

Irey Vaughan said in their meeting with Salvo in October, representatives identified additional grant opportunities, especially for broadband expansion in rural areas. She said that money would be helpful as students learn remotely and more people work through telecommuting during the pandemic.

Sherman said there will be many other opportunities as well, including recreation grants at county parks or endowments to boost small towns.

“With LSA (gambling revenue money) and the impact fee, we can do matching grants,” Sherman said of the opportunities by requesting more grants. “Other counties don’t have the money we do.”

But Commissioner Larry Maggi said he was concerned about the cost of the grant-writing program, and questioned if it would be able to pay for itself. He was unsure how he would vote on the issue Thursday.

“I’m looking at it. It’s one of those things, almost $100,000 paying somebody,” Maggi said. “We already get a lot of grants, state and federal dollars. I’m not sure if it’s worth it at this point. It’s something we’ll have to watch.”

Maggi hoped the amount of grant money would be tracked and the situation could be revisited again next year.

“If it does us some good, I’d be inclined to do it for a year,” he said. “I’ll study it and decide.”

Irey Vaughan agreed they would follow up next year to see whether it was helpful.

“We will be tracking it to make sure … we’re receiving a benefit,” Irey Vaughan said.

Salvo will be partnering with Parker Philips, an Erie-based firm specializing in marketing, communications, public affairs and economic impact analysis, to help craft the grant applications.

The commissioners also considered another Pittsburgh firm, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, in October after putting out a request for bids for the grant-writing position.

Also during Wednesday’s agenda meeting, the commissioners announced they will hold the local share account, or LSA, meetings in a virtual setting on Jan. 21 and 22 to listen to pitches for the grant money that comes from casino gambling revenue. Irey Vaughan said they would discuss the format with Washington County Chamber of Commerce President Jeff Kotula before the meeting.