CLEARFIELD – The Lawrence Township Supervisors held their monthly meeting on Tuesday night, and was given some generous news from the Clearfield County Commissioners.
At the start of the meeting, the board was presented with a check in excess of $144,000 to help with expenses that were lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In June, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the disbursement of $625 million to 60 Pennsylvania counties through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act or, CARES Act.
The county received $7,157,429 for virus-related expenses through the COVID-19 County Relief Block Grant Program from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
And, earlier this month, the commissioners voted unanimously to award CARES funding to all 12 municipalities that submitted funding requests, including Lawrence Township.
The funds will be greatly used as part of the expenses discussed at the meeting included potentially getting new radio chargers for the police department.
Police Chief Doug Clark noted that the recent murder/manhunt with suspect, Anthony Boone, 36, of Howard brought to light that officers in the field were having communication issues due to batteries running low on power.
He said the extra chargers in the police cruisers could mean having a spare battery ready to be used in case they are out in the field.
Clark reported that the suspect vehicle was recovered over the weekend in Pike Township after a resident spotted it in a wooded area.
He praised township officers for the work done alongside Clearfield Borough, Curwensville Borough and Pennsylvania State Police. Clark said Boone remains hospitalized at this time with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The supervisors said the township received two bids for a new cruiser for the police department, and voted to approve the bid from Murray Ford.
The new police cruiser, according to Clark, will be a 2021 Ford Explorer, replacing one of their units that is currently over six years old.
In other business:
- Code Enforcement Officer Debra Finkbeiner reported that 56 properties were considered abandoned/vacated, with 13 of them taken care of and demolished.
- Roadmaster Ronald Woodling reported that the tar and chip work in Wolf Run was completed, and the berm and ditch work in the area was close to being completed. He estimated that they may be able to move to River View Road as early as Wednesday afternoon or Thursday, with no later time than Monday. Woodling also noted that they are still one truck short for road work, but is hoping to have it by winter in case of needing to salt roadways.
- The supervisors also approved Dirt & Gravel Road Funds totaling $29,352.63 and the 2021 MMO for the police health plan.