The announcement of the allocation of the $12,500 was voted on at the Feb. 23 county commissioner’s regular meeting.
The park authority approached the county commissioners to inquire if the county would be willing to give money to the park authority to help buy supplies for the Alcoa Park project.
Clarion County Commissioner Ted Tharan said the project will be the replacement of sewer lines as well as water lines for the park.
“Right now no one knows where the sewage really goes. It gets pumped uphill and from there no one is sure where exactly it goes, so this is a good project,” Tharan said.
Tharan said the park authority was looking for any amount of money to buy the supplies for the park.
The park itself is controlled by five municipalities, two boroughs and three townships.
Tharan said the actual work will be handled by the workers of the municipalities.
“They (the controlling municipalities) will bring in their own equipment and workers to do the project,” Tharan said.
Tharan said the park authority approached not only the Clarion County commissioners but also the commissioners from Armstrong County, as well as other entities, to ask for donations.
“They (the park authority) did not ask for a specific amount of money; they were willing to accept anything to buy the supplies,” Tharan said.
The total amount of supplies needed was more than $67,000, and the total project will cost between $80,000 to $90,000.
County Commissioner Wayne Brosius made a motion to give the park authority $12,500 from the Marcellus Shale legacy fund.
“The money from the legacy fund is for projects just like the Alcoa Park project,” Brosius said.
The commissioners unanimously approved the allocation for Alcoa Park.
“It is a good project and will help improve the park, which is a big part of the county,” Tharan said.
In other business, the commissioners announced the county saved $10,000 with the approval of a contract with the county’s GIS and mapping department and Seneca Recourses of Erie.
Commissioner Ed Heasley said the contract will be mutually beneficial to both the county and Seneca Recourses.
Seneca Recourses did a fly-over aerial mapping of nine counties in Western Pennsylvania, including Clarion County.
Seneca Recourses will then sell the aerial map of a certain county to that county for $10,000.
Heasley said the county negotiated with Seneca Recourses to share some data from the GIS and mapping department with Seneca Recourses in exchange for the aerial map of the county.
Heasley said Seneca Recourses has agreed to the sharing of data and a contract was drawn up stating what will be shared between the county and Seneca Recourses.
“We will not have to pay for the map and they will get some information from us, so it is mutually beneficial,” Heasley said.
The contract was approved by the commissioners, which will have to be renewed on a year to year basis.
The commissioners also approved the lease of two vehicles for Children and Youth Services.
One vehicle is a 2016 Ford Explorer and will cost $28,502. The second vehicle is a 2014 Ford Transit van, which will cost $23,618
Both lease agreements are for a term of four years and will cost the county a total of $52,665.
Former county commissioner Greg Faller was in attendance at the meeting and asked if there was a mistake on the agenda regarding the 2014 Ford van.
“Is the van a 2014 or is that a typo? Because it seems odd to lease a two-year-old vehicle,” Faller asked.
Kay Rupert, director of the county’s children and youth service department, said the van is, in fact, a 2014 model, but it is a brand new vehicle.
“The van is a 2014 but it a new late model vehicle, so I didn’t have a problem with it being two years old. We are actually saving money on it,” Rupert said.
Tharan echoed Rupert, saying, “A brand new van would be around $30,000, so this is saving us quite a bit.”
The county is also waiving a penalty fee for a business that did not pay the county’s hotel tax from 2009 through 2015.
Clarion County Treasurer Tom McConnell said the county did not know the business existed until the owners came to the county to say they have not received any notification of the hotel tax from 2009 to 2015.
“The owners of the business were very forthcoming and it was an honest mistake. They paid everything they owed, so we are waiving the penalty fee because it was a mistake,” McConnell said.
The commissioners agreed with McConnell and voted to waive the fee.
Finally, the commissioners released the findings from the annual licensing inspection on Clarion County Office of Children and Youth Services.
Tharan was pleased to announce the county’s CYS officer was in compliance with state code and regulations.
The inspection was carried out over Jan. 26 through Jan. 28, and Clarion County’s CYS officer was recommended for full approval of the renewal.
“We are very honored to have Kay Rupert run the CYS office. She does a fantastic job and other counties call her when they have questions they need answered, so we are very grateful for Rupert,” Tharan said.