Well-to-Do Town Can’t Fill Park Jobs
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LANSDALE, Pa. — In many towns, even the worst jobs fill up fast these days. But one well-to-do suburb has lost nearly $100,000 in state park improvement funds because it couldn’t fill six minimum-wage jobs.
Towamencin Township, about 20 miles north of Philadelphia, was to have used the $96,493 grant from the Pennsylvania Conservation Corps for such projects as planting trees and building play equipment at parks.
But the grant was contingent on hiring six people to perform hard, outdoor labor for $4.25 an hour, with no benefits or holidays. The wage and benefits were set by law.
The only position township officials could fill was the $7.50-an-hour crew chief--and he quit after two weeks.
Don Mathis, director of the Conservation Corps, said the money will be redistributed among eight other towns that secured grants.
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