Forest County commissioners on Wednesday approved paying for three poles for broadband to be erected using part of the county’s American Rescue Plan funds.
Two of the poles would be located on the eastern side of the county and one on the western side, commissioner Bob Snyder said.
In other business Wednesday, Snyder said he is working with Butler County Community College to put together an EMT class.
He noted that on two occasions in the past year when someone went into cardiac arrest in Marienville, the wait time for an ambulance to come from Clarion County was two hours.
The ambulance service in Tionesta is manned by two EMTs, but the ambulance station in Marienville is no longer manned after Clarion Hospital pulled its personnel from the site, Snyder said.
“We were spoiled in Marienville for years…we had two paramedics at the ambulance building 24/7,” Snyder said. “People would go to the ambulance building if they had an emergency,” he added.
Snyder said the problem with the EMS services is a lack of funds, and Medicare and insurance payments don’t cover the costs.
Forest County isn’t alone in its EMS woes as Snyder noted the C93 radio station in Clarion County announces three times a day which ambulance services in Clarion County are out of commission.
Commissioners have re-appointed four members to another term on the Industrial and Commercial Development Authority and appointed three new members to the board.
Don Hall and Farley Wright were appointed to four-year terms, Jack Sherman, Kevin Carter, and Linda Ponagelik were appointed to three-year terms, and Penny Gawelski and Lissie Letot were appointed to two-year terms.
Carter, Gawelski, and Letot were the new appointees.
The former gas station has been cleaned up using a brownfields grant, and the DEP has signed off on the project, Snyder said.
The lot is owned by Forest County’s Industrial Development Corp.
A second former Selker gas station in Marienville, a repository property, is just beginning the process of evaluation by the DEP, Snyder said.
The concern with both properties is contamination from the gas station that was on the site, including from leaky, old gas tanks in the ground, Snyder said.
Snyder said Tuesday’s general election went well in the county, but he noted the 45% turnout was a little low for the county.
“The people in Forest County get out and vote,” Snyder said, adding that he has often seen at least 50% voter turnout for all the elections while he has been commissioner.