From this weekend's story:

The understaffed Coatesville Fire Department has exceeded its budgeted overtime expenses for the year in less than five months, according to city officials.

The department’s 2008 budget passed by City Council in January allotted the department $15,000 to pay for the extra shifts covered by the city’s full-time firefighters. On Thursday, city spokeswoman Kristin Geiger confirmed Coatesville had paid more than $24,100 so far this year.

Coatesville hopes alleviate the problem by hiring more full-time firefighters, and the city has begun advertising three openings in the department. Geiger said applications for those positions will be accepted through June 20.

From those applicants the city plans to administer a civil service test and hopes to compile an eligibility list.

No date has been set for the test yet, and it looks like it could be the middle of the summer before anyone is hired, at the earliest.

Members of City Council and the Coatesville Redevelopment Authority will conduct a joint, public work session this evening, at 6:15, at City Hall.

The city is seeking a new buyer for its 66-acre property in West Brandywine, known as the Conti farm, because a $1.27 million deal to sell it to the township has fallen apart, Assistant City Manager Kirby Hudson said this week. From Friday's story:

Revenue from the sale of the Conti property was factored into this year’s $10.3 million budget passed by City Council in January.

In 2007, when the city adopted a budget balanced in part with a plan to sell real estate assets, it found itself facing a $1.9 million deficit in the middle of the year when officials were unable to complete those deals quickly enough.

The city fixed the shortage by laying off eight full-time employees and switching two other full-timers to part-time work. There was talk of additional cuts to the police department, but that never happened.

Hudson said he does not expect a repeat of last year’s financial woes.

City Manager Harry Walker says the city's federal weed and seed grants are available. The feds say, nope, you can't have them yet.

UPDATE: Kristin Geiger, spokeswoman for the city of Coatesville, contacted me Wednesday afternoon to confirm that City Manager Harry Walker had been contacted by e-mail regarding the city's Weed and Seed money.

"However, we are still awaitng official notice from the Department of Justice," Geiger said. She added the city has resolved the issues raised in the audit and "we are hoping to hear from the Department of Justice in the very near future.”