Stockton officials may not accept the $5,000 award for a visitors center.
By: Linda Seida
STOCKTON If someone wants to hand you $5,000, normally that’s a good thing.
That wasn’t the case at the Borough Council’s work session Monday. Councilmen were angry Mayor Gregg Rackin applied for a grant for a visitors center without their approval.
In the tiny cash-strapped borough, every dollar counts. That kind of money can mean the difference between being able to pull together enough cash from various sources to fix a road in need of about half a million dollars’ worth of repairs and possibly more, or putting off the project again.
Mill Street, according to at least one councilman, has been in sore need of repair for at least a decade, probably two. But the money just isn’t in the municipal budget. Estimates have placed repairs in the range of $450,000 to $650,000.
Like Lambertville and other municipalities, Stockton has started looking at grants to help pay for the things the town needs.
The borough’s mayor this week announced the receipt of two grants totaling $9,000. One, a Clean Communities Grant in the amount of $4,000, came from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The other, a Municipal Incentive Grant in the amount of $5,000, came from the Delaware River Greenway Partnership.
The latter grant could be used to establish a visitors center within the Prallsville Mills Complex. Such a center would be a boon for the borough as it aids tourism and helps businesses flourish, according to the mayor. A visitors center would aid merchants if a businessmen’s association or chamber of commerce is formed, and it also might help relieve the parking burden, he said. In addition, the center would provide opportunities for volunteers as the borough tries to develop its historic resources, the mayor added.
"I think receiving the grant for the borough is a good thing," Mayor Rackin said.
Not everyone saw it that way. Nor were they pleased with the mayor’s initiative in applying for the grant before discussing it with members of the council. During the council’s workshop, the possibility was raised of declining the money.
"I just don’t understand why you would apply for a grant and not discuss your vision of what we could do with $5,000," said council President Andrew Giannattasio.
Mr. Giannattasio said the borough already had a grant application in with the agency for $5,000, which it had intended to apply to Mill Street’s needs. The mayor’s grant application canceled out that one, he said, because only one grant would be issued per municipality.
"The fact is only one application for $5,000 will be accepted by them," he said.
"Why wasn’t the $5,000 grant issued for Mill Street?" Councilman Neal Esposito wanted to know.
"They don’t give reasons. They thanked us for our application" before turning it down, the council president replied.
Mayor Rackin defended the grant for the visitors center. He said such grants are limited to $5,000 per application, not $5,000 per municipality.
"You can get more than one grant. That was my understanding," he said.
The mayor added, "I don’t understand what this has to do with Mill Street at all."
"The mayor says one grant doesn’t cancel the other, but I don’t have the paperwork in front of me," Mr. Giannattassio said.
Who was right? No one Monday had a definitive answer. Officials promised to get one before they voted to either accept the money or give it back.
"My question is, where is the benefit to Stockton?" Mr. Giannattasio said. "I see a lot of stuff about the mill, but I don’t see a lot of stuff about the citizens of Stockton."
In a press release, the mayor had referred to the formation of the visitors center as "the basis for strong partnerships between the borough, local businesses, community and environmental organizations and the Prallsville Mill in reaching out to the thousands of visitors who come to Stockton annually to enjoy all it has to offer."
Mr. Giannattassio requested the mayor discuss all future grant applications with council before submitting them.
"You have two weeks to look at it (the grant money) and ask questions," Mayor Rackin told the council, referring to its regular meeting July 28 at which time it could accept or reject the grant. "I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s a positive step forward."