CLEARFIELD – C. Alan Walker, secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) endorsed regionalization and touted its benefits to municipal officials during a “DCED on the Road” town hall meeting Tuesday night at the Florian Banquet Hall.
Walker said at some point, there needed to be some dialogue about the potential merger of Clearfield Borough and Lawrence Township into a third-class city. “I know some of you don’t want to hear this,” he said, “but it would be so much better for both and just makes sense.”
In many cases, he said one municipality rescues another during a merger. However, neither Clearfield Borough nor Lawrence Township needs rescued and would enter a merger on equal footing, he explained, adding that regionalization would allow for more efficient use of tax dollars, a better delivery of water and sewage services and improved fire and police protection.
According to him, the merger of St. Marys Borough and Benzinger Township served as a prime example of regionalization that has worked out well. He said it created the second largest municipality in their Congressional District behind only State College with a population of about 16,000 people. He said if Clearfield Borough and Lawrence Township would merge, it would become a third-class city of about 14,000 people and make the third largest municipality in their Congressional District.
“You would get unbelievable block grants and benefits from the state and federal government,” said Walker. “I hope we can talk and study it. In the end, it would make for much better delivery of services and a much more efficient way for local government.”
He said the Clearfield Municipal Authority (CMA) had received a $32 million combination grant/low-interest loan to construct a new sewage treatment plant in order to comply with the Chesapeake Bay initiative. He recently heard that there are eight sewage treatment plants between Clearfield and Philipsburg, which he found to be ridiculous. He said the municipalities needed to consider becoming more efficient by regionalizing water and sewage services.
Lawrence Township Supervisor Glenn Johnston said in West Virginia the county serves as the water and sewer authorities. He said they install more pipework and infrastructure in West Virginia in one year than Pennsylvania does in a 10-year timeframe.
“It’s regionalization, and it works,” he said. “And, I don’t get why Clearfield Borough and Lawrence Township aren’t doing everything together. Instead, we’re doing nothing together. Lawrence Township has been ready and wants to join and is interested in joining with anyone.”
Lawrence Township officials, according to Johnston, understand the benefits of regionalization, saying it would improve water and sewage services, police and fire protection and the road departments. “Any time you put a larger group of people together, you cut costs and improve efficiency,” he said.
“But we’re missing out for these little power structures that make people feel more important. We need to give up the power, and we need to get together and make something happen.”
Walker said the DCED has many positive examples of areas that have regionalized police departments. He said all have been very happy with the outcome and found they have driven down costs and actually have better police coverage.
He pointed out that Pennsylvania has 2,561 municipalities, and Alleghany County is the worst with 130 municipalities, which he noted “cannot work together.” He said company officials who relocate into these types of areas often get frustrated with dealing with multiple levels of government.
“It works against you,” said Walker, “so we have to get this worked out.”