Brookfield Township’s 11-month contract with VAZA Consulting LLC, which specializes in writing grants, has ended without a renewal, but the township still will have an ongoing relationship with the firm, said Trustee Shannon Devitz.

The trustees decided to give VAZA a try after it had great success securing grants for Brookfield Local School District. The same was not true with the township in the short contract period. The township and VAZA applied for four grants that were not funded and recently applied for a fifth.

The township cast too wide a net, looking at any and every grant opportunity, which was too much work, Devitz said. Devitz had regular conversations with VAZA CEO Dustin Pyles, and was liaison to the other trustees and department heads.

Instead, the trustees will look at specific needs and, if necessary, bring VAZA in on a project-by-project basis. In such a scenario, VAZA would charge “up to” $1,200 a day to help the township. Under the expired contract, the township paid $1,985 a month for two or three days of work.

Trustee Dan Suttles had agreed to the contract, acknowledging there is no guarantee of getting a grant, with reservations about the amount of money paid to VAZA and the potential money required by the township to match any grants received.

“I think we spent a lot of money and got nothing for it,” he said. “And you (Devitz) did a lot of work.” 

“He (Pyles) did a lot of work,” Devitz responded.

The trustees have to keep a close eye on the general fund now that they have allocated all of their federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, which was used to pay for some things that otherwise would have had to come out of the general fund, Suttles said.

Trustee Mark Ferrara called the new arrangement with VAZA “cost-effective,” but Suttles replied, “$1,200 a day, I don’t care what you say, that’s a lot of money”

The trustees said they would like to pursue grant funding to build sidewalks on Bedford Road from Warren Sharon Road to the Brookfield school campus and maybe to the library on Grove Street, although Devitz added, “I don’t know how involved it is.”

Her idea is to make it easier to get to the community center Brookfield schools is creating in the Tiffany’s Event Center building, which the school district is buying.

“That community center is gonna be revolutionary for the township,” Devitz said. “What can we do to try to add to that?”

Because Bedford is a county road, the trustees said they will reach out to Deputy County Engineer Gary Shaffer to talk about what would be involved and what their options are. Suttles said he also would like to talk to officials of Kinsman Township, which recently completed a sidewalk project. It’s also possible to partner with the school because the school would benefit from the sidewalk and a partnership might make the entities more competitive in getting grants, Devitz said.

“It’s a tough fit in Brookfield, but there is a need,” Suttles said of sidewalks, noting that he would like to have a sidewalk on Warren Sharon Road for people who walk to stores in the business district.

The final grant effort with VAZA under the contract is an application to the Community Foundation for Western PA and Eastern OH in pursuit of exercise equipment for the employee fitness center under construction in the Fire Station 18 on Route 7, Devitz said.