The fallout after the arrest of the DuBois city manager continues.
The Clearfield County Commissioners this week announced the municipalities where nearly $1.4 million in infrastructure grant money will go. However, the City of DuBois will receive none, this round.
That’s because of the state attorney general’s theft and fraud charges against the recently suspended DuBois City Manager John “Herm” Suplizio.
The Clearfield County Commissioners this week awarded 10 infrastructure grants to various municipalities, who applied last year for different projects. Some of these are bridges, water and sewer lines. The commissioners and the county planning officer went through the applications and ranked them by priority.
“DuBois was originally ranked in our top 10 for their new sewer facility, They were talking about building, but in light of the questions regarding their finances and, you know, everything that’s going on up there, we’re withholding any funding for the time being until they kind of get their own financial house in order.”
The total amount of money awarded comes out to $1.375 million, with Glass saying it all originates from the American Rescue Plan Act funds the county received. While DuBois won’t receive an infrastructure grant this round, Glass tells us the grant it would’ve received will go to someone else.
“It just so happened that Sandy Township had a really good project that just happened to rank below them, so we just slid Sandy Township right in there in their place,”
“Sandy wasn’t in our original list, so the amount that Sandy got was originally slotted for DuBois, So the, their total amount awarded would not have changed.”
Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry accuses Suplizio of stealing over $600,000 from the accounts of the DuBois Area United Way where he was executive director until this week — and the DuBois Volunteer Fire Department, and then using that money for personal and political expenses. All these are among several accusations.
