Lansford borough didn’t have the money to replace a retaining wall supporting a road last summer.

This year, the borough has the money, but no contractors are looking to bid on the Brimble’s Wall project.

“It’s an issue,” council President Bruce Markovich said during committee meetings Tuesday. “That type of work is very specialty kind of work. The average contractor doesn’t want to get involved.”

The borough sought to repair the wall last year using Community Development Block Grant funding, but came up short.

The borough gets between $74,000 and $78,000 a year in CBDG funding, and the lone bid on the project from Heim Construction of Orwigsburg came in at $398,105 last year.

Lansford sought alternative funding for the project, as the stacked stone and concrete retaining wall continues to crumble threatening a home at 362 Snyder Ave., which sits less than two feet away.

This year, the borough received an additional $313,000 in Multimodal Transportation Funding through the Commonwealth Financing Authority for the project.

Carbon County, which oversees the CDBG projects, solicited new bids for the project, and so far, no contractors have picked up the job specifications to put in a bid on the job, Markovich said.

“It comes down to a handful of contractors available to do that and none of them have picked up any contracts yet,” he said.

Both the borough engineer, ARRO Consulting, and the county will reach out to contractors that may be interested in taking on the project, Markovich said, and hopefully, they’ll put in bids to move the project along.

Other projects

Markovich also talked to county officials about moving on demolition projects. He said the borough has had money available since 2021 to tear down a number of houses and none have come down yet.

“The county assures me that by the end of this year 314 W. Patterson St., at the very least, will come down,” he said.

The borough also plans to execute a pass-through agreement for a $252,000 gaming grant for a community center on West Ridge Street, Markovich said.

The agreement is with Grace Community Church and Second Harvest Food Bank for repairs to the building at 47 W. Ridge St., the former English Congregational Church.

Grace Community Church is operating its food pantry out of the building, now dubbed the Panther Valley Community Center. The grant is for work on the building’s tower, which is in disrepair.

Council Vice President Jay Doyle questioned whether they can operate there until that work is complete, as he witnessed pieces of the former church tower coming down and striking the adjacent home in recent storms and high winds.

Markovich said the church has an architect in mind to begin the work, and residents questioned whether the building was condemned or not. Doyle believed it had been condemned at one point.

Councilwoman Michele Bartek said that she and Councilwoman Jennifer Staines toured the building. She said steps are blocked off with yellow caution tape and only one floor has heat.

“It’s just a mess,” Bartek said. “ARRO (Consulting, the borough engineer) went back in and did clear them. That’s as much as I know.”

She suggested that people refer questions to ARRO, because she doesn’t understand how the building was cleared.