State Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne/Carbon, announced the 2017 Local Share Account grant awards. Of the $816,070 awarded to projects in Carbon County, Kidder Township will receive $42,026 to complete renovations to the township building.

The municipal building on Lake Harmony Road was originally built in 1977, and other than converting the original garage into the police station, no major renovations had been made to the building until the past two years.The township first applied for an LSA grant in 2012 to repair the roof and to upgrade the HVAC system, add staff bathrooms to both the office area and the police station and to increase security within the building as well. A cosmetic upgrade to the front of the building was also included.Since the building was in need of the upgrades, the township supervisors had budgeted for the work to take place in 2015. An LSA grant for $79,199 was received in 2015 and was used to offset the cost of the first phase of the repairs.The total cost of the work done in 2015 was $437,000.The same year, Blue Ridge Realty donated an adjoining lot to the township for increased parking and a place for the township recycling bins. The township applied for a grant for the driveway, but did not receive the funds. The township completed the project at a cost of $86,000."The cost of the driveway project would have been more," township Manager Lisa Klem said. "But our(Environmental Advisory Committee) donated the landscaping and the seeding for the project."Klem submitted a grant application for the final phase of the work to be done. That grant was awarded this week."With the help of our legislators, we were able to get the funding we needed," Klem said. "We want to thank Sen. Yudichak and Rep. Doyle Heffley (122nd District) for their support."The $42,026 will be used to resurface the original driveway, replace the old sidewalks and pave the area leading around the building to the gas pumps used to fuel the township's emergency vehicles.