On Jan. 10, two months after a tornado devastated parts of Clark and South Pymatuning Township, borough and township officials were thrilled to hear they would receive a combined $140,000 in state grant money for cleanup.

Today, debris still litters part of the area and neither community has seen a cent of that money.

Community Revitalization grants approved during former Gov. Mark Schweiker's last days in office, including those two local ones, have been held up while Gov. Ed Rendell's administration reviews the applications.

Other local grants that have been frozen include: $7,500 for Mercer East End Fire Department, $5,000 for Greene Township, $7,500 for Grove City Volunteer Fire Department, $5,000 for Lakeview Knothole Little League, $5,000 for Mercer Area Girls Softball and $7,500 for Springfield Township Volunteer Fire Department.

The delay has caused some concern for officials in Clark and South Pymatuning.

"They told us, 'Don't spend the money till the check clears the bank,' '' said South Pymatuning Supervisor Chairman Mike Nashtock. "I guess that was good advice."

Since the township hasn't gotten its $40,000, "things are really tight right now," Nashtock said. Although real estate tax money has started to come in, the township has not been able to fix equipment broken during the tornado, fix drainage ditches, repair roads or replace street signs.

"We've scaled back everything we've done and done things that don't require much capital outlay," Nashtock said.

The bad winter added to the stress. Snow started falling before all the debris was cleaned up, and the township had to spend extra money this year on salt for the roads.

Nashtock said he heard it could be a few more months before the township will see its money.

"I was told to give it a little time to work through the system," he said.

If the township doesn't get its money by June, supervisors might take a more active approach, such as a letter-writing campaign, Nashtock said.

Clark Mayor Doug Bradley said he is working with state Sen. Robert D. "Bob" Robbins, Salem Township, R-50th District, to try to free up the $100,000 in grant money coming to the borough.

"We are certainly going to do everything we can do to get these grants to come through," Bradley said.

If the borough doesn't get the cash, the budget will have to be adjusted.

"We'll make adjustments throughout our budget to offset expenses and the lack of income we will be getting," he said.

Bradley pointed out that the money is not just for Clark; it will be used to pay overtime expenses for other municipal crews that helped with the cleanup.

"We definitely need that $100,000," he said. "I was real excited and I thought we were progressing with that, but it looks at this point that it's on hold ... I was just hoping we'd have the money by now and we'd have the situation cleared."

Like South Pymatuning supervisors, Clark officials will not stand by quietly waiting. Bradley said he plans to keep in touch with Robbins' office.

"I don't intend to let it just pass by," Bradley said. "We will continually pursue it and do everything we can on this end."