West Easton finally received word today, on a grant applied for in March of 2020, seeking to purchase a much needed leaf vacuum.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in government offices shuttering only weeks after submitting the application, it took far longer than expected to receive an answer. If it had been normal times we would have been notified around October of last year.

In February of 2020 I wrote that the borough would be applying for a 90/10 grant to purchase the leaf vacuum.

Borough Manager Joan Heebner did an exceptional job with the long and tedious grant application, as always. I attended a meeting with the grant provider to review the application and the desired purchase.

Former Councilman Ron Nixon made more than one trip to equipment providers seeking the best leaf vacuum that would fulfill the borough’s need.

The $47,160 leaf vacuum will only cost the borough $4716, in meeting the 10% match requirement.

The new leaf vacuum will replace the nearly 20 year-old piece of …equipment… the borough has been using and continuously repairing in order to keep it running. It is well past its service life.