CLEARFIELD – After surviving a world-wide pandemic, economic challenges and a major election last year, the Clearfield County Commissioners are looking ahead.
There are several items on their list of priorities for 2021.
Job Losses/Small Businesses
The proposed closing of Moshannon Valley Correctional Facility outside Philipsburg is definitely on this list.
The company, which runs the facility, The GEO Group Inc., announced in January that the federal prison’s contract expires on March 31.
Efforts are being made to keep it from closing, said Clearfield County Commissioner Chairman John Sobel in a recent joint interview with fellow Commissioner Tony Scotto.
“That is an awful, nasty, hit” to Clearfield and Centre counties as well as the Moshannon Valley, he said.
In a previous interview, Sobel mentioned that U.S. House Rep. Glenn Thompson is working to possibly extend the contract for a few months to a year to help the community.
If it does close, efforts will be made to attract another occupant for the building and possibly replace the lost jobs.
Sobel also mentioned helping small businesses, which “took a huge hit” due to COVID-19 and looking at ways to help them survive.
The county is expecting to distribute funds from the state’s COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program (CHIRP) to eligible businesses impacted by the pandemic. (For more info click here)
COVID Vaccines
Distribution of the COVID vaccine is another matter facing the trio, which includes Commissioner Dave Glass.
“We are looking into ways to improve the (registration) process,” Glass stated in a previous interview.
Glass also encouraged everyone “to get on a list” for the vaccine and not just sit back and wait. He suggests calling back regularly for updates.
Sobel commented that they are trying to offer assistance to local health care groups so more people, especially “older folks who are more at risk” to get vaccine.
Improvements needed at Clearfield County Jail
Both Sobel and Scotto agree with recent comments made by Glass regarding the conditions at the Clearfield County Jail.
“The jail is 40 years old and most buildings deteriorate after 40,” Sobel said.
The commissioners have a company looking at it in March to help give them ideas on how best to handle improvements.
Glass mentioned that this analysis will help them determine whether it is more cost effective to fix it or build another facility.
Clearfield County Redevelopment Authority
Re-establishing a county redevelopment authority is key to handling the blight in the area, Sobel said.
“This is a real problem in smaller communities.”
He mentioned a property he is dealing with now in Mahaffey owned by people in South Carolina that “just don’t care.”
Many communities are trying to handle this issue of “absentee landlords,” but don’t have the monetary resources “to deal with it.”
“The authority can help educate municipalities about how to approach blight.”
Such a group can take abandoned property, repair it or tear it down to sell the land and use the funds to continue resolving other blighted sites.
It would also have the ability to resolve leans on properties, making them easier to sell.
Tourism
Scotto noted that the local tourism business is still suffering as many major events have been cancelled.
At this point, the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) Small College World Series is still scheduled for May 16 to 20 in DuBois, but that could change depending on the virus.
On Tuesday there were reports that a game scheduled with the USA Softball Women’s team, which was cancelled in 2020, will not happen in 2021 either.
Scotto is optimistic that as more people get the vaccine, restrictions would be lifted and more activities can be held again.
“This would help out our hotels and restaurants.”
With the loss of outside dollars, the local tourism agency, Visit Clearfield County, is not able to give out grants to local businesses since it is funded by a hotel tax, Scotto said.
However, this area did still see tourists as people flocked to its cabins and campgrounds.
“We do live in the mist of the great outdoors,” Sobel noted.
Union Contracts
One of their biggest challenges will be dealing with employee union contracts, some of which were put off last year by the virus, Sobel said.
Glass stated that every employee union contract is up this year and it will be a difficult task to negotiate all the new contracts.
In addition to the virus, Scotto pointed out that in 2020 they were also busy with the election and new equipment that replaced an older system that had no paper trail.
“The machines had to be programmed and ready to go.”
Initially in the primary, Scotto said they had some problems with ballots not going through the machines but by the time of the November election, everything was working well.
As for the election, Sobel said he wanted to “compliment everyone” for how hard they worked in getting the votes counted properly.
COVID did delay many plans for 2020 and kept the commissioners busy coping with changes and distributing funds from the federal government. They are hoping to catch up on their work by the end of 2021.
“The COVID pandemic really put a tremendous amount of stress on folks in Clearfield County,” Sobel noted, adding that it was especially frightening for elderly people in nursing homes.
But then everyone adapted and Sobel said he “still sees smiles, which speaks well for the citizens” of the county.