The Monroe County Board of Commissioners voted Thursday to submit the county’s 2025 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application and approved several related certifications and cooperation agreements, county officials said.

Jennifer Peterson, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of the County of Monroe, told commissioners the authority held public hearings in East Stroudsburg Borough, Stroudsburg Borough and the county on Oct. 1 and received no public comments on the proposed activities. "We've had a second public hearings ... having had no public comments on the proposed activities," Peterson said. She said the authority will submit the application based on resolutions signed by the commissioners that day and that the CDBG allocation for the community is $663,596.

The application lists county-led housing rehabilitation as one project; Peterson described the county portion as intended for rehabilitation of single-unit residential properties to assist low- to moderate-income homeowners who qualify. East Stroudsburg Borough is proposed to use its allocation for street and road improvements on parts of Walnut, West Bridal and Park streets, and Stroudsburg Borough for improvements on McConnell Street. Commissioner discussion included no public objections at the hearings, and commissioners approved the required certifications and cooperation agreements needed to file the application with the Department of Community and Economic Development.

The board also approved multiple grants and budget actions in the same meeting. Commissioners authorized the use of opioid settlement funds for two memoranda of understanding: Synchronicity Recovery Foundation for $50,000 and Path to Peace for $50,000; the board also approved related vendor list updates for emergency management. The board approved an additional county payment of $320,000 from the substance abuse educational demand reduction fund to Carbon Monroe Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission, bringing the county's total payments to-date to $640,000 to help the provider continue operations while the state budget impasse remains unresolved.

Other formal actions approved Thursday included:
- Awarding general services (janitorial) for the magisterial district judge (MDJ) offices to KKJ; the commissioners recorded the award amount as $686 and corrected the record during the meeting to indicate that the amount is $686 per week, with two one-year extension options at a 3% increase per year. The board had earlier ratified the bid opening for janitorial services, which recorded two bids: KKJ at $35,672 and Team Clean Solutions at $35,100 (the bid opening record showed no bid security). Commissioners later authorized KKJ as the vendor for ongoing service.
- Approving amendment No. 8 to a consulting agreement with KRB Consulting LLC at a stated rate of $150 per hour for water and wastewater projects on county-owned facilities in Schneidersville covering a county-specified contract period.
- Approving a one-year contract extension (option 2) with Securitas Technologies for correctional facility services under the terms announced in the meeting (per-minute and commission rates recited during the motion), and authorizing digital mail services at a specified monthly rate.
- Executing a lease for vehicle storage with Jamie Lisonbee and James Passmore (doing business as Auto in Motion) for the Monroe County Drug Task Force; the lease term and monthly amount were read into the record and approved by the board.
- Authorizing the grants manager to submit a Fiscal Year 2026 Local Share Account (LSA) statewide grant application for the Office of Emergency Management to fund burn building door replacement in the amount of $54,280 and approving a resolution naming Chairman John Christie and Vice Chairman David C. Parker as officials authorized to execute related grant documents.
- Ratifying multiple personnel, electronic voucher, payroll and benefits items; approving purchases of service agreements by Children & Youth with listed providers for the July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026 period; and approving capital and computer capital purchase reports for small equipment items.

Votes on motions were recorded as "Aye" in roll call sequence and the chair declared the motions carried where noted. Several motions were moved and seconded on the record; the transcript does not consistently identify individual movers or full vote tallies for each action.

Public comment at the meeting included a statement by Nicholas Pistachio, a self-identified veteran, who addressed constitutional concerns and provided documents to the county solicitor. His comments were part of the meeting's public comment portion and were not tied to the commissioners' formal actions.

Why it matters: The approved CDBG application directs state and federal community-development funding toward local housing rehabilitation and street improvements in the county and its boroughs. The additional county payments and opioid-settlement grants are aimed at keeping behavioral-health and substance-use services operating while state funding uncertainties persist.

Looking ahead: The board scheduled related administrative meetings (salary board and retirement board) for later the same day and authorized staff to proceed with the grant filings and contract actions approved at Thursday's session.