CLEARFIELD – Bradford Township has filed a petition to change its election precinct boundaries, reported Commissioner John A. Sobel, chair, at Tuesday’s commissioners’ meeting.
The petition, he said, was filed through the Clearfield County Prothonotary’s Office and President Judge Fredric Ammerman has turned the matter over to the Election Board, which consists of the three county commissioners.
Sobel said the Election Board has not yet seen the petition but has a meeting scheduled for Thursday morning with the solicitor and additional information will be available at a later time.
He said the board will carefully review the petition and offer a recommendation to the court. He added that the board will try to do its best to address the petition timely but declined to promise that the matter will be resolved before November’s General Election.
According to previously-published GANT News reports, on March 13, the Election Board decided to keep the township’s precinct boundaries, as defined by a court order issued in 1985, which upset township officials and residents.
The order granted the consolidation of the “existing Bigler precinct and Jackson precinct, east of Route 970, into one to be known as the Bigler precinct.”
Secondly, it granted the consolidation of “Woodland and Jackson precinct, west of Route 970, into one precinct to be known as Woodland precinct.”
The precinct issues arose after the last presidential election when there were allegations of fraud across the country. State officials were mandated to ensure the validity of voter registrations.
County officials maintain voter registration records and were in turn mandated to verify voters’ physical addresses and whether or not they were voting at the correct precinct.
It was discovered then that some voters were possibly not voting in the correct precincts in Clearfield County, which resulted in a notice being mailed out. The commissioners previously directed the Election Office to halt mailing notices until a final decision was made.
In March, the staff was directed to resume their mailings to the affected voters following a special Election Board meeting. Bradford Township has two election precincts, which are Bradford First and Bradford Second.
In October of 2017, Bradford Second Precinct had 1,164 registered voters to just 569 in the Bradford Township First Precinct. As of April, Bradford Second Precinct had 892 registered voters and Bradford First Precinct had 829.
In other business:
- The commissioners approved for Community Development Specialist Lisa Kovalick to apply for a competitive $1 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) on behalf of Decatur Township for its New Liberty Sewer Extension project. She said the township has also borrowed approximately $800,000 through PennVEST and has budgeted $397,000 in township monies.
- The commissioners approved an annual Memorandum of Agreement with the Northwest Central Pennsylvania Emergency Response Group and Mercyhurst University at the request of Emergency Services Director Joe Bigar. The approval is contingent upon the solicitor’s review of said agreement.
- Bigar reported that the county’s 911 Text service is officially available to the public. He said it will be especially beneficial to those who are hearing- and or speech-impaired but is available for everyone to use. He highly encouraged people to call 911 but reminded the text service is there in the event calls cannot be made from a remote area or due to the nature of the situation. Initial texts will result in a standard 911 response and then a back-and-forth text message conversation will ensue with a trained dispatcher to ascertain the needs.
- The commissioners approved a project modification request for the RASA/VOJO state grant; a project modification request for the VOCA federal grant; and the application for the 2019-2021 VOCA non-competitive grant.
- The commissioners announced the Walk 4 CMT will be held Sept. 1 at the Clearfield County Fairgrounds. The walk serves as a fundraiser to help further research and progress towards a cure for CMT.
- The commissioners approved liquid fuel allocations in the amount of $3,522.57 for Greenwood Township and $3,000 for Wallaceton Borough.
- The commissioners approved a purchase of service agreement with Daniel C. Bell.
- The commissioners approved amendments to the purchase of service agreements with Pentz Run Youth Services, Children’s Aid Society and Bair Foundation.
- The commissioners approved a Valpak participation agreement to improve the county’s foster care recruitment.
- The commissioners approved the separations/retirements of Roger Moore, part-time corrections officer/jail, effective Aug. 24, and Makayla Brock, caseworker/Children & Youth Services, effective Sept. 14.
- The commissioners approved the bills as presented by the Controller’s Office.