News Nearby: North Strabane Approves Energy Grant Application

 supervisors on Tuesday unaimously approved a grant application that would help the community determine the feasibility of making its municipal fleet more green.

Township Manager Frank Siffrinn the community was approached to jointly apply for a $25,000 grant through The Heinz Endowment with nearby Peters Township and Upper St. Clair.

The money would be used to evaluate the communities' fleets and assess what it would take to make them greener, and would include all vehicles in the township—including those used by the fire department.

The grant requires a 10 percent match—$2,500—that Manager Frank Siffrinn had said would be split among the three communities.

According to information on the grant given to supervisors at last week's meeting, the grants will be awarded to municipalities "that commit to encouraging and engaging with surrounding municipalities to share lessons learned about improving municipal vehicle fleets."

Supervisors also unanimously voted to solicit cost estimates for a wind study at Municipal Park.

Board Chairman Greg Sulc asked last week that the motion be added to Tuesday's agenda, and said that such a study is the first step to possible grant funding for wind technology there.

Sulc last week said the hope was to ultimately use wind energy to power all of Municipal Park and the township building—all in an attempt to make the community more green.

"We all know there's wind up there. We've been up there and almost been blown off the hill," Supervisor Rob Balogh said with a laugh.