Burns guides Conemaugh Twp. in right direction to get $350K grant
Road repaving program initiated after many years of dormancy
Rep. Frank Burns March 24, 2025 | 2:28 PM
EBENSBURG, March 24 – Conemaugh Township went without a road repaving program for many years, until its supervisors and appointed roadmaster J.D. Burns met with state Rep. Frank Burns, who steered them toward a state program that yielded a $350,140 grant to initiate a long-term improvement plan.
According to J.D. Burns, who is no relation to the state representative, “Frank guided us toward the Multimodal (Transportation Fund) grant. It’s a matching grant that requires 30 percent from the township. That’s what we could afford, as a yearly payment basically, to get the match funding.”
J.D. Burns said that including the $150,000 the township was able to invest from its capital improvement fund as the required local match, it now has $500,000 that it anticipates spending to repave six roads covering 2.5 miles.
“We are focusing on roads that are heavily traveled, and for (improving) emergency vehicle access in and out,” J.D. Burns said, noting that the 2,000-person township has approximately 15 miles of roads but limited funds. “We’re implementing a repaving program, with the goal of doing some each year.
“In order for us to do that, obviously, we have to go after the grants, because relying on the township budget alone isn’t going to cut it. The township is aggressively looking at and planning to do this type of funding in the future – to keep the program going, with Frank’s help.”
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“You need two things to win a grant: You need your (state) representative. It’s imperative that you have a good representative … And you need a good grant writer, which we have in J.D. Burns, who worked a lot of hours on this.” -- Kurt Freidhoff, Conemaugh Township supervisor.
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Supervisor Kurt Freidhoff, who serves in that capacity along with JoAnn Rheel and Larry Jay Beabes, said the state grant is huge, considering the township has few commercial properties generating taxes and many elderly residents in its tax base.
“This grant is tremendously going to help the township,” Freidhoff said. “The only way we can do anything like this is with grants.
“You need two things to win a grant: You need your (state) representative. It’s imperative that you have a good representative … And you need a good grant writer, which we have in J.D. Burns, who worked a lot of hours on this.”
Freidhoff and J.D. Burns each said that Conemaugh Township has a cooperative agreement with adjacent East Taylor Township, and Frank Burns has also been helpful in their joint applications for grants.
“One of the other grants that Frank was able to help us obtain was for a new excavator, to be shared with East Taylor,” J.D. Burns said. “We also got a grant for a (road) crack sealer trailer, also to be shared with East Taylor.”
J.D. Burns said that Frank Burns also helped Conemaugh Township obtain a state grant to purchase a new police cruiser.
Rep. Frank Burns said, “Many of the small communities I represent could never afford to make these types of major investments without state funding. I’ve made it my mission to support our local communities by helping them to secure grant funds that make projects like these possible.”