In 1985, Dan Meckes was appointed to Tyrone Borough Council to fill a term of a member that moved from the borough. In 2003, Meckes wants to be elected to serve on Tyrone’s governing body.
The Park Avenue resident has written many letters to the editor and signed many petitions in the past, but feels he needs to do more.
“All the letters I have written and all the petitions that I have signed doesn’t cut it,” said Meckes. “If I want to see the changes that I talk about, I felt that I needed to run for council. The recent natural gas hike has convinced me even more that I need to run.”
When asked what is the biggest need for the Tyrone Borough, Meckes believes that the citizens need a voice.
“This is an outlaw government that is not living up to the Home Rule Charter,” said Meckes. “This is a government of mayoral decree. The citizens of Tyrone have no voice. I plan to be that voice. The elderly need a voice and of all the candidates, I know the most about being elderly. I know about the stress and strains of living on a fixed income and these people need a voice in their government.
“I believe that more attention needs to be paid to the young people of our community,” Meckes continued. “If elected, I will push for a rotating employment of a high school student to sit with council. This will give us the thoughts of the teenagers in the community. Many of the people elected believe that they know what it was like as a teenager. They weren’t teenagers when drugs are so readily available, they weren’t brought up in single family homes and they weren’t teenagers when there were school shootings. We need to have a constant dialogue with the young people to tell us what they want and need. We need to provide a nurturing atmosphere so they are ready to go into the world totally prepared.”
Tyrone Borough Council has voted to set up a Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zone for the paper mill and Dixon properties and has a hearing scheduled soon for the LERTA zone in the borough. Meckes believes that there should be limits on what the borough gives to business as tax breaks.
“These breaks should be conditional,” said Meckes. “Don’t give the tax breaks to businesses that suck money out of Tyrone. Tax breaks should be given to companies that make a long-term commitment to Tyrone and furnishes decent employment at decent wages, not hotels or motels.”
Many times when there is a tax break for business, it is passed on to residents to make up the shortfall in income.
“I believe that not enough has been done for the residents of this community in the last five years,” said Meckes. “There were 75 homeowners who applied for help insulating their homes. There has to be more of a search for resources to help the residents. The residents need to make our representatives on the state and federal level more responsible. The pyramid of government is all funded by property taxes.
“It has been all about the facelift of downtown and the landlords have done nothing to fix up the backs of their buildings,” said Meckes. “It looks like a Brazilian barrio when you look from I-99. The facelift of downtown was supposed to attract business for Tyrone. Levine’s and Columbia Ancillary have left town. It has been an exercise in futility.”
Meckes believes that Tyrone could be the hub for new technology.
“We need to get out of the mindset that we are a bedroom community for State College,” said Meckes. “We need to go out and attract high-tech industry or even bio-tech. If we can attract a cluster of high-tech business with our low property prices and low tax rates, it will bring high value employment to our community.”
As a member of council, Meckes plans to keep the residents of Tyrone informed of the council matters.
“If people have any problems or issues, they can call me,” said Meckes. “My number is in the book. I will not participate in phone call council meetings. I also will not participate in these all encompassing executive sessions. If I participate in executive session it will be about legal or personnel matters and the community will know what is going on. They will not treat me like Sara Jane Miller.”
Meckes will appear on the Democratic ballot in the November general election.
