Sharpsburg's new capital improvement plan to guide borough spending the next 5 years

Sharpsburg officials are poised to adopt a new five-year capital improvement plan that will guide borough spending on everything from police cars and public parking overhauls to recreation and infrastructure upgrades.

It is the culmination of a summer-long effort by Local Government Academy intern Saul Bezner with assistance from Borough Manager Christine DeRunk and council’s finance committee.

“It is an effort to improve budgetary planning from year to year, as well as provide guidance on which projects should be prioritized when seeking grant funding,” DeRunk said.

“By analyzing projects from their estimated costs, and commitment to the borough’s comprehensive plan, the (capital improvement plan) provides necessary background for informed budget decisions.”

The comprehensive plan is a separate plan and is available for review at the borough office, 1611 Main St.

Bezner, 26, is a Bloomfield resident working on his master’s degree in public policy and management at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. He began serving Sharpsburg in late May.

He presented a draft of the capital improvement plan to council on his last day, Aug. 24.

Council is expected to adopt the plan Sept. 28.

“I got to work with so many people on a personal level,” Bezner said. “Something I love about local government is everyone knows everyone. It’s very casual to me. … It was very nice to navigate and get to meet people and put faces with names.”

What’s the plan

The capital improvement plan gives financial projections on requests for parks and recreation, police, public works, infrastructure and administration from 2024 through 2028.

Bezner said part of the planning process included surveying heads of the aforementioned departments, tabulating data and making graphs.

Examples of parks and recreation projects include repaving and repainting the basketball court at 16th Street, replacing playground equipment at Heinz Memorial Field, and having new concessions and restrooms at Kennedy Park.

Examples of police projects include new vehicle purchases, a communications alert system, adding new security cameras, and adopting a new parking meter payment system.

Examples of public works projects include buying a new salt spreader, sewer cameras, tree grates, and holiday decorations, and repaving parking lots.

The plan scores these projects via five categories: should be done, should be done if funding can be identified, desirable but not essential, and should not be considered.

“I think the most challenging part is every project is so important,” Bezner said. “Assigning a number value to see what we can do and what’s feasible was pretty hard. … I’m not going to give any comments (on the projects). Part of my job is to be impartial. My job is just to provide a report. I’m also not a resident.”

Highest projected spending was for infrastructure at $630,000 each year. Administration requests went from $35,000 in 2024 to $20,000 in subsequent years.

Parks and recreation went from about $380,000 to $130,000 through 2027 and none in 2028. Police capital requests were projected at about $115,000 in 2024, a little more than $50,000 in 2025, roughly $130,000 in 2026, $1,300 in 2027 and about $45,000 in 2028.

Public works requests were projected at close to $330,000 next year, $80,000 in 2025, $90,000 in 2026, $100,000 in 2027 and $160,000 in 2028.

The plan does not commit the borough to do any of the recommended work.

Mayor Brittany Reno commended Bezner for putting the plan together.

“Every municipality needs to plan for the future, especially in terms of critical infrastructure for the community,” Reno said. “It’s exciting to see what we’re putting together a plan to address these needs proactively. I’m really excited about investments related to stormwater management, public safety planning (and) communication with residents.

“This has been the most impressive undertaking. Saul has done an incredible job helping us. To benefit from someone who cares so much and is so well versed in numbers and evaluating projects and grants has been awesome for this community. We’re very lucky to have had him here working with us.”

Bezner said his time in Sharpsburg has fomented his love of local government.

“I really think local government is where the rubber meets the road,” he said. “It’s really amazing to see the kind of tasks that follow local government and to see how they play out on a daily basis.

”It’s very different from federal and state because there’s more happening every single day. There’s more that needs to be addressed every single day. I think that’s really amazing. I think the staff I worked with are incredible.”

Council president Adrianne Laing declined to comment after the meeting about the plan or Bezner’s work in the borough.