RPC Update

By Laura Lacey Curler

Executive Director

RPC of Clinton County, Inc.

Grant Work Underway

Happy Fall, Town of Saranac! I am pleased to say we are making significant progress with the Grants we are administering.

HAPEC, our Housing Rehab Specialist, has begun home inspections and we will begin letting bids outs for building contractors within the next couple of weeks. CDBG and HOME funding will help approximately 18 low-income homeowners with housing rehabilitation. Access to Home funds will help low-income homeowners in Clinton County with accessibility issues. It is possible to have accessibility needs addressed with the home rehabilitation by using two sources of funding.

We have also submitted an AHC grant for Town of Saranac rehab funds for 14 additional homes. We expect to hear on that application by the end of September. It is important for RPC to know the need is there, so it is NOT too late to apply for home rehabilitation work in your home. Our goal is to rehab all income-qualified homes in Saranac.

Working on New Grant Application

We are currently working on a RESTORE grant and will submit that application in early October for a hopeful December decision. These funds, if awarded, will bring emergency funding to homeowners age 60+ in all of Clinton County.

How to Contact RPC

We are keeping our new website (clintonrpc.org) updated so applications for grants or Emergency Home Repair Funding can be printed from the website, mailed or dropped off to us. You can also find senior housings applications for Centennial House, Saranac Valley Housing or Twin Oaks Senior Housing. You may also visit our Facebook page at Rural Preservation Company-RPC of Clinton County or call the office at 518-293-7569. Our office hours are 8:00-4:00 on weekdays, excluding holidays, if you would like to stop by.

Part-time Position

We are currently looking for a snow removal employee for Centennial House/RPC. We have ordered a self-propelled snow blower to use on the parking lot and sidewalks. The expectation is the work will be started between 6-7 A.M., after snowfall the previous night; follow-up in the evenings, as needed. If you know someone who may be interested in this part-time position, please contact our office! *RPC is an Equal Opportunity Employer*

Office Staff

If you should stop by the office, this is who you can expect to greet you:

Laura Lacey Curler, that’s me, and I am generally in the middle office Tuesday - Friday. I do my best to direct the workflow so we can help low-income people with their housing issues.

On Mondays, our Administrative Assistant, Karen Racette, is in the middle office, while I work from another office. Karen pays the bills and manages invoicing for our management properties. Karen is also the Manager of Saranac Valley Housing. She performs most of the Emergency Home Repair Fund duties.

Penny Leonard, our Program Coordinator, is in the front office and will most likely be the one to greet you and/or answer the phone. Penny has learned the Rural Development 504 grant/loan program, to give residents an option if we do not have grant funding available for the problem. Penny is also concentrating on the Access to Home grant work, along with assisting with on CDBG and HOME grants.

Steffaney Jabaut, our Grant Reporting Specialist, is in the back office and is working with the CDBG and HOME files. Steffaney is our SUNY Plattsburgh intern for the Fall semester and worked with us this summer on Environmental Reviews and other important grant reporting functions. Her internship goal is to create a database that will assist with our workflow and allow us to more easily answer questions.

Recent Retirement

Lastly, thank you to Jenny Monty for the 18 years she worked for RPC of Clinton County. Jenny’s desire to help the Town of Saranac was unwavering. She played an important role in securing the funding we are now using to help the Town of Saranac