Two years after Wheatland was awarded a state grant to build a sidewalk along Mercer Avenue, the borough is still plugging away at.

While the rate of progress has been slow, it hasn't been so slow as to jeopardize the grant, said Dan Gracenin, assistant director of Mercer County Regional Planning Commission.

"As long as you show progress and things are moving, that money won't disappear," he said.

That isn't stopping Wheatland council from wanting to act quickly on what few decisions it has to make on the project. Council recessed Wednesday's meeting until 6:30 p.m. Monday to discuss it.

Council was awarded a $212,000 PennDOT grant in February 2000 to build a sidewalk on the north side of Mercer Avenue from the existing portion at about Chestnut Street to Shenango Boulevard in Farrell.

Based on estimates available at the time, officials knew the grant would not be enough to cover the whole length, and agreed to reduce the length from Chestnut to Indiana Avenue in Farrell.

Bids were received for the project and the lowest came in at $260,000.

Mayor Thomas Stanton said he favored either rebidding the project or applying for more state funding to make up the rest of the cost, but consulting engineer Winslow Engineering Inc., Hermitage, sent a letter to the borough saying the low bidder has agreed to build the sidewalk to Patton for $212,000.

Stanton said he is not sure it's worth only running the sidewalk to Patton, at the Wheatland-Farrell boundary, as the biggest problem with having little place to walk is past Patton.

The sidewalk is expected to mostly be used by children walking to school.

But Councilman Donald Stinedurf said he'll take whatever the money will buy.

"I'm we can go to Patton, let's do it," he said. "I'm in favor of putting in what we can."

Solicitor William Madden said before a contract is awarded, he would want to make sure the cut down bid is legal. If bids were not accepted on a per-foot basis, the others bidders would need to be given the opportunity to reduce their proposals.

Gracenin said he could not specifically answer that question, but he talked about the bid with PennDOT.

"It's not the preferred way of doing things, but it's legal," he said of making the deal with the low bidder.

Gracenin added that while council has a right to be concerned about the project, it really doesn't have a say in the bid process.

"The borough is not responsible for construction of the project," he said. "The borough is responsible for everything up to construction," such as engineering, design and preparatory work.

PennDOT accepted and will award the contract.

What council pays for that prep work is considered the 20 percent match the borough has to pay to receive the grant, Gracenin said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Joe Pinchot at

jpinchot@sharonherald.com