Council votes to seek change in grant programs

STRUTHERS -- City council has passed a resolution urging federal agencies to remedy what council says are inequities in industrial Brownfield cleanup and revitalization programs that adversely affect small, economically distressed municipalities, such as Struthers.
Such government grant programs burden small distressed cities by requiring local matching funds and by not paying for administrative costs, Mayor Dan Mamula said.
Struthers and neighboring communities have been working to bring new industry to former steel mill land along the Mahoning River. Copies of the resolution, which Council passed Wednesday, will go to the White House, the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. senators and representatives who represent the Mahoning Valley.