(Editor’s Note: The first Meet the Candidates night took place Wednesday night at the Tyrone Elementary School Large Group Instruction Room. In today’s Daily Herald, we focus on the Tyrone Borough Council candidate who was in attendance. Borough council candidates Dan Meckes, John Thomas, Jennifer Bryan, Jim Beckwith, Jeffrey Watson and Sharon Dannaway were unable to attend. In tomorrow’s Daily Herald, we will focus on the candidates for Snyder Township supervisor. The complete forum will be aired Saturday morning starting at 11 a.m. on WTRN AM 1340.)
One Tyrone Borough Council candidate and three Snyder Township supervisor candidates attended Wednesday’s Meet the Candidates forum. This is a candidate-by-candidate synopsis of what they had to say.
Tyrone Borough Council
Bill Fink
“You may know me or have read some of the stuff I have written in Letters to the Editor in The Daily Herald. I was born and raised here in Tyrone. I spent four years in the active Air Force and came back to Tyrone. I worked on the borough police force for a few years as a police officer and also at Bayer Brothers driving truck because at that time the police didn’t get the big bucks that they get today. One of the things that I am is I am a big proponent of the police. I am a supporter of law enforcement. In most instances, law enforcement gets a raw deal. The first thing that gets cut in any administration is public safety and public safety is the last place that needs to take an axe.
“All across Pennsylvania cities, boroughs and townships continue to struggle in their everyday effort to survive. More and more of our family and friends are forced to relocate because they are unable to secure jobs. Tyrone is a prime example of a struggling tax base.
“We’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. This last budget that we went into the budget was $6 million dollars and in December, the estimate is that we will have $6,000 left in the coffers. The borough shouldn’t be going into a new budget with less than $100,000 set aside. I have been unable to see in this community a reserve plan of any kind or a plan that says we’re going to do something in the next five, 10 or 15 years. I do see a lot of concrete, I do see a lot of red brick and I do see a lot of street lights. I don’t believe in my heart of hearts that is the answer to make Tyrone better.
“I think the Mayor does a wonderful job and she is a very energetic woman. I believe that we need people on council who are going to look to the future and figure out how to draw into this community which will be tough because Tyrone is landlocked. Last year I proposed to our mayor and borough council the establishment of a regional consortium consisting of Snyder Township, Antis Township, Bellwood Borough and Tyrone Borough. The future is communities in partnership. The sharing of ideas and benefits that will be gained through this partnership. This group could speak with one voice. That voice is represented by two state representatives, Rep. Stern and Rep. Sather. They could work on development and work with the state representatives to insure the channeling of state infrastructure and economic development funds into the boroughs and the townships.
“Choosing new leaders is a big responsibility and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly.”
• KOEZ for Westvaco and Dixon properties — “From what I can see, I believe that a KOEZ for the Westvaco property would be, without a doubt, necessary. I would say that I would have a question and I am not saying that a KOEZ for the Dixon property is something that I wouldn’t agree to, but I would want to know why. If there are problems there that we can help with, I feel we need to help. I think it is the obligation of the community and the borough council, the elected officials to step up to the plate and do that.”
• Addition of full-time police officers — “I do not believe that the addition of one full-time police officer is enough. In fact, I believe that there was a provision to hire two full-time police officers before the one time police officer deal was struck. The council sits down there and says we have enough police officers. We don’t have enough police officers. What we need down there is a police force that can deal with the issues and that can get out on the street and do the work. These guys are stretched thin. You can’t ask them to go out and put their life on the line when there is nothing there for them in the long run. I believe that Tyrone is a training ground. We spend more money training officers to send off to other police departments than we do to put in our own facilities and make Tyrone a more safe place to live.”
The complete Meet the Candidates forum will air Saturday on WTRN starting at 11 a.m.
