Harrisburg and Dauphin County agree to work toward solution for sinkholes

(Harrisburg) — It appears Harrisburg and Dauphin County will work together on an application for federal disaster money, a partnership that comes after the city and county fought publicly over the past two weeks.

Sheena Mosley owns a home on South 14th Street in Harrisburg.

“My home has to be knocked down. I have a 14 feet hole underneath my home. My home is collapsing,” says Mosley.

“We got the most stress than anybody on that street and the city has not done nothing.”

In January, Harrisburg sponsored a seminar to apply for federal assistance for the sinkhole.

Harrisburg has been pushing for help from Dauphin County to pay to fix sinkholes in Mosley’s neighborhood, but the county insisted more information was needed.

The city’s engineer took full responsibility for any missing pieces in the first application.

But Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse says the county seemed to be especially stringent in reviewing the city’s case.

“This is unusual for them, when somebody gives an application they can see in the pictures the damage and this was years after the fact and you’ve heard them say in the past that this was not directly tied in terms of timing to Tropical Storm Lee,” says Papenfuse.

At a recent meeting, the city provided more details.

So, Dauphin County Commissioners said they do want to help the city get the $1 million grant for the sinkhole project.

“There’s still a good bit of work that remains to be done, we have to do our due diligence to make sure this program works properly, and now we can begin to do that,” says Dauphin County Clerk Chad Saylor.

The grant could then help leverage enough federal disaster funds to cover the entire $4 million price tag.