The United States Department of Agriculture won’t be coming to Clarion County.
Clarion County Commissioner Ted Tharan said Tuesday that both of the proposed sites in the county for the relocation of two USDA agencies have been rejected.
“We have not been told directly but through the developers that both Clarion County sites were rejected,” said Tharan. “I understand that the only site in Pennsylvania still under consideration is near Hanover.”
Proposals had been submitted for the Trinity Point property and for the Glassworks site in Clarion. Tharan said the proposals didn’t meet several of criteria set down by the USDA.
Last August, the USDA announced its intention to relocate two if its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to a more rural location closer to its customers. In line with Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue’s goals of efficiency and customer service, the USDA sought “expressions of interest.”
The two Clarion County proposals were among 136 from 35 states.
The Clarion proposals had letters of support from 13 other counties in northwest Pennsylvania as well as numerous school districts, municipalities, economic development professionals, lawmakers and business leaders.