EVANS CITY — Council and park authority members were surprised in September to learn of a large bill due to match an EDCO Park pool grant.

But that was the third time the county explicitly told Evans City of that obligation, documents indicate.

A February letter informed council the borough would have to pay $31,250 to match a grant for the pool. In April, the county separately told park authority board members of the same upcoming bill, according to documents obtained by the Eagle through a Pennsylvania Right-to-Know request.

County Solicitor Julie Graham sent a Feb. 6 email addressed to borough council President Lee Dyer and two contractors associated with the project that noted new funds were available for the borough to use in its pool renovation project. That specific grant funded the new pool decking.

“The county of Butler has recently been notified by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania that there will be additional funding for this project ... in the amount of $31,250, with a local match requirement of an additional amount of $31,250,” the letter states.

The letter requested a response by Feb. 22 for placement on the commissioners’ March 5 meeting agenda. Minutes from that meeting indicate the commissioners unanimously approved use of the grant funds.

“Per Department of Conservation and Natural Resources approval, we received this additional funding that requires a 50 (percent) match from Evans City Borough,” the minutes read.

Dyer said he does not recall forwarding the February letter, but added that through normal protocol it would have been forwarded or placed in the park authority’s mailbox in the borough office. No documents the borough found regarding the Right-to-Know request indicate the email was forwarded to authority members.

“I don’t recall any conversations after that, to be honest,” he added. “I know that things were crazy trying to get the other change orders done.”

Pool Manager Cindy Caldwell said she did not receive from Dyer a copy of that letter.

“It was just a big lack of communication,” Caldwell said. “We didn’t have access to that communication, only the borough has access to that. It wasn’t shared with us, and it wasn’t through us not asking.”

The county sent a follow-up letter on April 10 reminding the borough to approve or execute the change order for the decking. Attached to that letter, and referenced in the body, was the Feb. 6 letter informing Evans City of the new grant.

“On February 6, 2019, I wrote to the borough, Aqua Pools and Aquatic Facility Design on this matter (letter attached),” the letter reads.

The April letter was addressed via email to Dyer, then-Councilwoman Shelley Natali, Caldwell, Authority Treasurer Ashlee Zinkhann and Solicitor Neva Stotler. It was also copied via email with attachments to Mayor Dean Zinkhann, the pool contractors and two members of county government.

Both Dean Zinkhann and Caldwell said they do not recall receiving the April letter, although Caldwell said she found it after looking through her email inbox in October.

Dean Zinkhann said he originally thought some paperwork was lost or misplaced, as the borough was either without or changing secretaries at the time.

The next communication between the borough and county explicitly regarding the $31,250 in matching funds came Sept. 3, seven months after the first letter and five after the second letter. The email, from Lance Welliver, director of Butler County Parks and Recreation, included a copy of the solicitor’s February letter informing the borough it would have to match the grant dollar-for-dollar.

That email arrived hours before the borough’s September council meeting, when members of the pool authority expressed surprise at the outstanding bill.

“We knew all the initial grants needed to be matched, but Butler County was also matching (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) grants with county grants and other grants that they had,” Caldwell told the Eagle in an October interview. “I think our board just assumed it was matched how they matched other grants because we had been asking how much we would owe in the end, because we had already paid $87,000 plus an additional $15,000”

In an October interview, Dean Zinkhann said he was surprised.

“I think it was a shock to everybody. I know it was for the authority,” he said.

The county and borough came to an agreement on a three-installment payment by Evans City following a Sept. 10 park authority meeting. That plan was ratified by commissioners on Sept. 18, and the EDCO Park Foundation, a separate nonprofit arm that raises funds for the park, has agreed to pay back the borough, diverting funds from future fundraisers to do so.

Dyer said the borough will also try to help in any way it can to help alleviate some of the burden on the park.

“Council remains committed to looking under rocks to see what we can do to defer some of these costs,” he said.