CLEARFIELD – Clearfield Borough Council had two bills to think about at Thursday night’s meeting.
The first bill, Senate Bill 900, would hold property owners responsible for blighted structures. They would have to secure, remediate, or demolish blighted structures. It would also give municipalities the authority to seek the financial assests of the owners. The bill would also allow for out-of-state homeowners to be extradited in order to take care of their property.SB 900 would allow local governement the right to deny permits to the owners of the blighted properties, as well as, create an education program for magistrates and judges.
Council voted to support the bill.
Council did not support House Bill 1231, which is an occupational compensation bill that would amend the Workers’ Compensation Act. The ammendment would make any cancer contracted by a firefighter an occupational disease. This would then make the local municipality responsible for the cost.
Leslie Stott, borough operations manager, compared it to a firefighter who smokes two packs of cigarettes a day for 20 years and fights one fire but then gets cancer. Members of council unanimously voted to not support the bill.
