Westmoreland set to end deal with Monessen for blight project

Westmoreland commissioners on Thursday are expected to terminate a contract with Monessen to coordinate a plan to remove blighted properties in the city.

Officials signed off on a $7,500 deal late last year in which the county planning department would oversee efforts to identify and publicize efforts to remove dilapidated structures and unsafe properties from a multi-block area in downtown Monessen.

It was cheaper to hire a private consultant rather than pay for assistance from county planners, Mayor Ron Mozer said Wednesday.

Mozer said the change to a private consultant, paid through a state grant, will not alter plans to demolish and restore more than 100 blighted properties in the city. Monessen is required to pay 10% from its own funds to cover the consultant’s $40,000 contract.

“We will have entire blocks that will become available,” Mozer said. “It’s all developing very quickly. We have been very active to determine what will become of the city once we remove the blight.”

For the city, the shift away from the county planning department means more attention. The city’s consultant will operate within Monessen and guide blight removal efforts through the next six years, according to the mayor.

Westmoreland County and Monessen have worked over the last decade to control blight in the city. In 2015, the county sold the city more than 260 blighted and unwanted properties that had previously gone unsold at county tax and judicial sales as part of a $1.3 million joint revitalization program.

Blight removal also has been a focus for county leaders in recent years. Commissioners this summer announced that more than $10 million in American Rescue Plan funds will be allocated to remove as many as 300 blighted properties throughout the county.

Officials said more than 100 blighted properties in Monessen could be eligible for eradication.

Westmoreland’s planning director, Jason Rigone, said the county agency was prepared to do the work for Monessen and continues to provide services to other municipalities including recently completed blight inventories in Latrobe and Greensburg.

“Communities are being proactive to address these types of issues,” Rigone said. “We will still be there to help.”

County planners estimated that as many as 375 properties in Monessen could be considered as blighted.

Westmoreland’s redevelopment authority has identified more than 500 blighted properties that could be eligible for demolition with money from the county’s $105.4 million share of American Rescue Plan funds. The program only includes municipalities approved by the U.S. Department of Treasury: Arnold, Greensburg, Jeannette, Monessen, New Kensington, Penn Borough and Vandergrift.

Officials previously identified more than 1,200 blighted properties throughout Westmoreland County.