Every time we elect a new governor, programs are tailored to meet the goals of the administration. I have dealt with the Keystone Communities in a previous column. The long and the short of that article was that there would not be any “new” Main Street or Elm Street programs awarded with the new administration. Communities have an opportunity to become a Keystone Community, but they have to pay the administrative costs by providing at least a 60 percent of a full time employee to carry out mission.

I have been exploring what grants are out there on a federal level, and I will tell you there are many. The federal government funds all kinds of stuff. I have seen grants to fix things in foreign countries and to fund research for all kinds of things.

The other day I came upon a grant for people to drill wells, it goes like this:

Fortune and fame are fleeting, as are the successes of downtown programs as they experience random events that shape their destiny. It happens all of the time. It starts with human factor of the people involved with the downtown program, and ends with the faceless corporate raider that closed the biggest downtown store.

People employed in the public sector have to put up with a lot because they are always under the scrutiny of the taxpayers. Taxpayers pay the salary of public employees like a borough manager, main street manager or any number of full time officials administering departments and crews.

I watched with a little bit of amusement recent developments in Pottstown about the salary range for the prospective new borough manager. The question is “Do You Get What You Pay For”??