Johnstown gets inaugural state DCED award for 'Municipal Excellence'

Dec. 1—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — The City of Johnstown on Thursday became the first recipient of an award created to recognize what Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Secretary Rick Siger described as the "most dynamic and exciting" communities in the state.

Siger complimented work being done to improve Johnstown before presenting the Secretary's Award for Municipal Excellence to Mayor Frank Janakovic during a ceremony at Holiday Inn Johnstown-Downtown.

In recent years, Johnstown has put together six straight budgets that have finished in the black, shored up its municipal pension funds with money acquired from selling the sewer system, reduced blight, invested in infrastructure such as Sargent's Stadium at the Point, and developed a $17 million plan to remake Main Street and Central Park.

Johnstown also exited Pennsylvania's Act 47 program for distressed municipalities earlier this year after the state changed its policies and limited how long communities could be in the program. The city entered Act 47 in 1992.

"I was really pleased and excited and really inspired by the planning that's taking place here," Siger said.

Government, business and nonprofit leaders are also working to rebrand the city with an emphasis on outdoor recreation.

"It's just amazing just to see us receiving this award and being acknowledged for all the work that not only myself and City Council, but the entire community has done to move Johnstown forward," Janakovic said.

One of the guests in attendance, Johnstown Area Regional Industries President Linda Thomson, added: "Even though it's an award of excellence to the city, I think we can all take satisfaction from it because we've all been working together for many years now to raise the level of the city's revitalization.

"I think this is a really important milestone for us because it kind of gives us a shot in the arm, saying, 'Yeah, we're all working together. We're all doing great things.' I think it's a good thing."

But not all leaders are convinced Johnstown deserves an award for municipal excellence at this time.

State Rep. Frank Burns, D-East Taylor Township, sent a letter to Siger in which he explained that "my definition of 'municipal excellence' must be based on far different criteria than what you and your department's executive team used to make this determination. Anyone who has followed the news for the past year is aware of the depth and breadth of serious problems plaguing Johnstown — and it is way premature to say there has been 'municipal excellence' in terms of serious and effective efforts to solve them."

Burns, who did not attend the ceremony, pointed out that Johnstown has been named the state's poorest city. He also noted that about one-third of the population lives in poverty, approximately 20% reside in public housing or Section 8 rentals, and Greater Johnstown School District faces numerous issues caused in part by a transient student body.

Other challenges face Johnstown that he did not mention in the letter.

The city's century-long population slide continues, going from 18,411 in the 2020 U.S. Census to a projected 18,091 on July 1, 2022. Johnstown also ranks 341st out of 357 metro areas across the nation in gross domestic product.

"Unless there is real, documentable progress on these and many other issues, a 'feel-good' award from your office amounts to nothing more than a participation trophy, as Johnstown needs way more than a plaque on the wall to fix its deep-rooted problems," Burns wrote.

Siger and Janakovic emphasized that the honor should be viewed as an acknowledgment of work done and plans made for the future.

"This is not an award to celebrate the end of a decades-long effort to improve this region, but it's really recognition of the fact that partners have come together, created a real plan for success, focused on downtown, focused on leveraging some of the federal and state funding that's been available," Siger said. "We really just felt strongly about recognizing that here."

Janakovic added: "It's not like we're happy and we're content where we're at. We plan on doing a lot of things."