Topping the Blair County Commissioners meeting yesterday, a formal agreement between Antis Township and Blair County has been authorized for the use of a tub grinder.
The county owns an extra Olathe tub grinder, which is used to grind yard waste, branches and small trees into chips. Under the agreement, Antis Township can borrow the tub grinder at no charge.
“We’re glad to do it; they’ve been a good board to work with,” said Commissioner John Eichelberger. “We signed a formal agreement this morning that allows them to borrow at no charge an extra tub grinder we have.
“I’m assuming they’ll have those chips available to the public, but the site will be available to the public so they can bring yard waste in and dump it off, and they’ll grind it.”
Also, it was authorized to advertise for grants up to a maximum of $5,000 per applicant to be available through the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. $50,000 in total grant money will be made available.
“We have done grants in the past,” said Eichelberger. “In Tyrone, last year, they redid the floor at the YMCA; a couple of projects were done at Ferner Field and one with the Bellwood Antis Park and Recreation Authority. There are a number of projects in the Tyrone – Bellwood area that have happened because of these grants.”
It was authorized to reappoint Dan Taddei and to appoint Rick Karcher and Sam McCloskey to the Blair County Convention Center and Sports Facilities Authority.
“The motion was to reappoint Dan Taddei who is currently serving on the authority, and the vote was 2 -1 on that. I didn’t support it,” said Eichelberger. “Then we put on two new people to take two vacancies there, and these people have not served on the authority before.
“We’ve had a lot of controversy about some of the public reporting of financial information from the authority, and they have not been willing to report a lot of financial information. So we have some new people on there, and I had told the media this morning that I’m hopeful that the new people now will try to get some of that information out to the public about the expenses and all the income of the Convention Center.”
In emergency management agency news, it was authorized to submit a West Nile Virus surveillance and control grant agreement between the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Blair County for $53,502.10.
“We have had an ongoing program for West Nile Virus, and what this particular grant will do is continue the program of surveillance,” said Eichelberger. “We monitor different sites around the County, and we’re always on the lookout for sites we think might foster mosquitoes, and then we monitor these areas and check for any mosquitoes that carry the West Nile Virus.”
