The Pottsville City Council is hoping the project to upgrade the traffic lights at West Market and 12th streets by spring or early summer, city Administrator Thomas A. Palamar said at council's December meeting Monday night.
The council first announced its intentions to upgrade the lights in February 2010. One of the hold-ups involved making arrangements with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which is involved since West Market Street is Route 209, Palamar said.
Total cost of the project is $250,700 and the city is financing it with $110,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds and a $140,700 state Automated Red Light Enforcement grant, Palamar said.
"That was a new grant program and PennDOT didn't quite know exactly how this project was going to be bid out, how it was going to be monitored and what not," Palamar said.
The city is hoping to advertise for bids in January. It's planning to install four new traffic poles with overhead signal lights, four pedestrian signals and curb cuts to accommodate wheelchair users.
In other matters during the meeting, the council appointed three new members to Lasting Legacy for Pottsville. Mayor John D.W. Reiley said according to the bylaws for Lasting Legacy, members can only serve up to two consecutive three-year terms.
And Reiley said he, Ian Lipton and Joseph H. Jones will be stepping down since their second terms will be up on Dec. 31.
Council appointed Palamar, Naomi Ost and Joseph Schlitzer to three-year terms to end Dec. 31, 2014.
The city's parks, playgrounds and athletic fields will be getting no-smoking signs, thanks to Schuylkill Health, which purchased more than 20 20-by-12-inch aluminum signs using a state grant, according to William J. Rowan, director of the Schuylkill Health Counseling Center, who came to show the council one of the signs Monday night.
"The city has them now and they're preparing to distribute them," said Rowan, who also presented a plaque to the council for taking the initiative.
The city's playgrounds have been smoke-free since 2006, when the Schuylkill County Tobacco Free Youth Coalition encouraged council to pass an ordinance, according to city police Lt. Steve Durkin.
Jeffrey Zwiebel, principal at Pottsville Area's John S. Clarke Elementary Center and a representative of the Pottsville Area Tide Task Force, was also on hand to support the effort.