Penn Hills officials spoke Monday night about how they’d like to spend an $18 million gift from the federal government.

The money is coming from the $1.9 trillion covid relief bill, known as the American Rescue Plan, recently signed into law.

U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, announced Penn Hills’ portion of the bill during a meeting with officials March 26.

Penn Hills Manager Scott Andrejchak said during an agenda-setting meeting Monday that the first half of the $18 million will be coming to the municipality as early as May. The rest of the money will be disbursed around this time next year, he said.

Andrejachak presented the municipality’s priorities as to how it could spend the money in a presentation before opening it up to residents with their ideas. Some of those priorities include various needs for police, emergency medical services and fire personnel. He also talked about the stimulus money helping to match state grants for road paving and to fund projects within the municipality’s five-year capital improvement fund.

“The mayor and council are in a discerning process and a planning process as to how this money is going to get programmed into our 2021 budget,” he said, adding the $18 million will impact budgets through 2024.

Many residents who spoke during the meeting mentioned the need for beefing up the municipality’s code enforcement department.

“Every time someone mentions code or something that needs looked at, the answer is generally that we’re very understaffed. Well, now is the time to fix that,” said Becky Fenglietto, a Penn Hills resident.

Several others echoed the sentiment.

According to Penn Hills’ 2021 spending plan, the municipality’s budget allows for four code enforcement officers.

Mayor Pauline Calabrese liked the idea, but wondered if the municipality would be allowed to hire additional officers because of the rule that Penn Hills must spend the money by the end of 2024.

The manager did not have a definitive answer, but said there “are not a whole lot of strings attached, per se.” Andrejchak said the covid relief money cannot, however, be used to fund pension obligations and it cannot be used to reduce or lower taxes.

Others also mentioned a desire for hiring additional police officers and purchasing garbage cans to be placed around the municipality.

Tyler Tomasino, a member of the Rotary Club of Penn Hills, suggested using some of the money for capital improvements to the William McKinley Community Center.

Betty Arenth and Joanne Fascio, both Penn Hills residents, urged officials to remember to include the Lincoln Park Community Center. The municipality does not own the building on Ridgeview Avenue, but it does allocate Community Development Block Grant funding to the nonprofit housed there.

“If we’re going to invest in facilities that serve the community, making sure we serve all of our communities, including Lincoln Park, is very important,” Arenth said.

A set-in-stone plan for how the money will be used has not been made public yet. Calabrese said she hopes the discussion is the first of many.

“This is truly historic. We probably will never get this amount of money again in our lifetime. … And I would like to say, this is just the first meeting of many. We do need your input, we want your input and that’s why we’re having these meetings,” she said.

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