vol. 136 - no. 002 more inside supervisors in stalemate...
TRANSCRIPT
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PENN HIGHLANDS DUBOIS THE CLINIC AT WALMART
In afiliation with Penn Highlands DuBois
Vol. 136 - No. 002
Sunny. Not as cool with highs in the mid-30s.
Full report, A2
14 pages
Classi� ed ......................... B6
Comics ............................. B5
Lifestyles ......................... A4
Lottery ............................. A7
Opinion ........................... A6
Public Notices ............... B6
Sports ............................... B1
$1.00
•MaryPassmore,66•ColbySmith,30•LorraineTamburlin,95•MarjorieToth,90
While many coun-ties in Pennsylvania have taken loans to make ends meet as the state struggles to make a budget, Jeffer-son County will not. A2
Business tax is eliminatedA Pennsylvania busi-
ness tax that pre-dated the Civil War and in modern times pumped hundreds of millions of dollars a year into state coffers has been swept away by the new year. A3
Fatal fire isruled arson
A blaze in a home that left a firefighter dead was arson, authorities said Monday as they pledged an intensive homicide in-vestigation. A5
Firemen jump out windowFire officials say seven
western Pennsylvania firefighters were forced to jump from second-story windows to escape a burn-ing home after rescuing an 86-year-old woman. A7
Jefferson County will not seek loan
Tomorrow’s Forecast
Index
ObituariesA7
MORE INSIDE
Page B1
TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016
By Jeff Corcino
Special to the Courier-Express
CLEARFIELD — Commissioner John Sobel was unanimously elected chairman at yesterday’s reorganizational meeting of the Clearfi eld County Commissioners.
Commissioner Antonio Scotto was unanimously elected vice-chairman.
Local attorney Kim Kesner of Clearfi eld was retained as the county’s solicitor. He will earn a salary of $50,145 — $750 more than last year, according to Commissioner Mark McCracken.
Lisa McFadden was also retained as chief clerk.
GIA Associates of DuBois was retained as the county’s engineer and Rhoads & Si-mon of Harrisburg as special counsel on state Department of Environmental Pro-tection issues.
The law fi rm of Campbell, Durrant, Be-atty, Palombo & Miller of Pittsburgh was retained as the county’s representative in labor negotiations.
However, McCracken voted against the
appointment. McCracken said after the meeting that he voted against it because there have been some complaints from em-ployees about the cost.
The commissioners also approved the service agreement with CobraHelp as the county’s master consultant on its Cobra health insurance plans.
The commissioners also ratifi ed the one-year terms on several boards and authori-ties.
Sobel will serve on the boards of Clearfi eld County Economic Development Corporation/Clearly Ahead, Moshan-non Valley Geo Prison advisory board, Clearfi eld-Jefferson Heroin Task Force.
Scotto will serve on the boards of Clearfi eld County Recreation and Tourism Authority, Clearfi eld County Conservation District and Community Action.
McCracken will serve on the boards of North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Corporation, Pennsylvania Counties Health Insurance Purchasing Cooperative, and Central Counties Youth Detention Center.
Sobel elected chairman of Clearfield County Commissioners
Supervisors Rick Glover and Millie Bowers did not see eye-to-eye on a nomination for supervisor or vacancy board Monday night, which means the decision will go to the Elk County Court of Common Pleas. (Photo by Katie Weidenboerner)
By Katie Weidenboerner
RIDGWAY — As a result of a stalemate between the two re-maining Ridgway Township su-pervisors Monday, the township will now go more than 45 days without a third supervisor.
The decision will then be sent onto the Elk County Court of Common Pleas for appointment.
Despite interest from four township residents for a two-year term, until January 2018, following the next municipal election, Ridgway Township re-mains without a third supervi-sor.
The vacancy comes after letters of resignation were ac-cepted from former supervisor and roadmaster John Gardner after he was charged by state police for allegedly padding the time cards of his wife, a fellow employee, resulting in a theft of $3,516 from the township in 2015.
During a special meeting one week ago, Chris Klase was ap-pointed to serve fi ve days, the remainder of Gardner’s last term.
When Klase threw his hat in the ring for, and was given the nod by Supervisor Rick Glover,
Supervisors in stalemate over vacant seat
By Elaine Haskins
DuBOIS — The Sandy Town-ship Supervisors recognized newly re-elected members Jim Jeffers and Mark Sullivan at their reor-ganization meeting Monday night and set their meeting schedule for 2016 — they will continue to be held the fi rst and third Monday of each month at 7 p.m.
Information/workshop meetings will be advertised as needed.
The leadership of the fi ve-mem-ber board will remain the same as well: Jeffers is chairman and Dave Sylvis is vice chairman.
“I take it as a vote of confi dence,” said Jeffers when thanking his fel-low supervisors on being unani-mously re-elected chairman once again.
The supervisors also reappointed Dave Monella as their manager.
Other offi cers include Secretary/
Treasurer Barb Miller and Assis-tant Secretary/Treasurer Shelly Reasinger.
Robert Wilson Jr. was re-elected to the vacancy board.
The supervisors also:• Appointed Perry Bowser as
township engineer and retained Ferraro, Kruk and Ferraro as town-ship solicitor. Jeffers will attend the state convention as the voting del-egate. All local banks and PLGIT will serve as township depositories.
• Retained Swift Kennedy In-surance as insurer and Keystone Collections to collect earned income taxes and the local services tax (each 1.7 percent). Elizabeth “Lib-by” Roudybush is the elected tax collector (2 percent).
• Authorized township employ-ees and offi cials to various work-shops, seminars, etc., with prior approval of the manager or super-visors, provided suffi cient money is
Sandy TownshipSupervisors retain current officers
The Sandy Township Supervisors held their reorganization meeting Monday night. Jim Jeffers, seated left, and Mark Sullivan, seated right, are the newly re-elected supervisors who were sworn in by District Judge Patrick Ford of DuBois. Standing from left are Andy Shenkle, Darrel Duttry and Dave Sylvis. Jeffers was re-elected chairman while Sylvis was re-elected vice chairman. (Photo by Elaine Haskins)
Clearfield County Commissioners Mark McCracken, left, John Sobel, center, and Antonio Scotto were some of the officehold-ers who were sworn in Monday by President Judge J. Fredric Ammerman. (Photo by Jeff Corcino)
DuBOIS — Clearfi eld County Judge Paul Cherry swore in three DuBois offi cials during Monday’s city council reorganization meeting.
Mayor Gary Gilbert, Council-
woman Diane Bernardo and Coun-cilman Ed Walsh were re-elected to four-year terms in November.
City Controller Lisa Labrasca Becker, who was also re-elected, will
be sworn in Thursday. During the meeting, Randy
Schmidt was re-elected as vice pres-ident. Under the city’s charter, Gil-bert serves as council president.
The council will continue to hold its work sessions at 4 p.m. on the Thurs-days prior to its regular meetings, which convene at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of each month.
DuBois officials sworn in by Judge Paul Cherry
Elk County Court will decide who will fill Ridgway Township Supervisor position
See Officers, Page A7
See Ridgway, Page A7