\u201cHe brought experience and expertise to council that will be sorely missed,\u201d Tyrone Mayor Patricia Stoner told The Daily Herald regarding the departure of 20 year council veteran Jim Beckwith.
\nLast night was Beckwith\u2019s last regularly scheduled council meeting. He took the opportunity to express his thoughts in a prepared statement to council and became emotional while reading it. He then handed the statement to fellow member Jennifer Bryan who completed the statement.
\n\u201cI want to thank the council for their hard work and urge them to stay on track and everything will work out,\u201d Beckwith told The Daily Herald.
\nBeckwith especially wanted to thank Mayor Stoner and the borough solicitor Larry Clapper. The attorney was not present at last night\u2019s meeting, but Beckwith pointed out he felt Clapper always had \u201cthe best interest of the borough at heart.\u201d Beckwith went on to say the public did not always see this and Clapper\u2019s expertise came through in executive sessions and behind the scene matters.
\n Mayor Stoner was visibly touched by Beckwith\u2019s comments.
\nShe then proceeded to present him with two separate awards. Not only is Beckwith leaving his council seat, he\u2019s also decided to retire at the end of the month as fire chief.
\nFollowing are the words printed on an award presented by the Mayor to Beckwith from Cary Simpson and radio station WTRN:
\n\u201cRadio station WTRN is pleased to present the Outstanding Citizen Award for November 2003 to Jim Beckwith.
\n\u201cIn a short time, Jim will be retiring after nearly thirty years as Tyrone\u2019s fire chief. But, this will not end his volunteer service to our area. Just as his beloved father, \u201cPap\u201d Beckwith, remained concerned and active in the fire department after \u201cretiring,\u201d Jim will also.
\n\u201cA fire chief has to know the ways to deal with many different types of fires and organizes battle plans, just as generals do in the military, to deploy equipment and personnel to save lives and minimize property damage. Jim has made good use of his knowledge and skills in these responsibilities.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s proud that a third generation, his son Mike, continues to serve as a firefighter.\u201d
\nJim also will be retiring as a longtime member of Tyrone Borough Council. Here again, his experience and judgment have been important.
\nRarely has one individual devoted so much personal time to volunteer activities as Jim Beckwith.
\nHe has had a significant impact on this place we call home.\u201d
\nMayor Stoner also presented Beckwith with a plaque from the borough for his years of service, it reads:
\n\u201cWith sincere gratitude and deepest appreciation to James R. Beckwith, friend, colleague and public servant for your 28 years of dedication to the well-being of the Borough of Tyrone, as a member of Borough Council from 1983-2003 and as Borough Fire Chief from 1975-2003.
\n\u201cThe expertise you brought to council, your spirit of cooperation, the courage to always stand strong in your convictions, and your total commitment to the safety of our resident, will not only be your legacy, but will be missed by those of us who were privileged to serve with you on Borough Council.
\n\u201cThe Borough of Tyrone is a richer place because of your contributions, Jim Beckwith, God speed! Tyrone Borough Council, Dec. 8, 2003.\u201d
\n\u201cSomeone is going to have big shoes to fill,\u201d said Stoner. \u201cWe called upon him many times from an historical standpoint when we need to talk about this that happened in the past. We will miss that valuable resource.\u201d
\nThose shoes the mayor referred to will be filled by councilman-elect Bill Fink.
\nBeckwith urged Fink to \u201cwork with borough\u201d when he takes his seat on council next month.
\nAccording to the Tyrone Borough Charter, council is expected to hold a reorganization meeting on the first Monday in January. It\u2019s expected Fink will be sworn-in at that time although Tyrone Borough has released no official statement regarding the matter. The Borough Charter Code states the reorganization meeting will occur at 8 p.m. on the first Monday in January. Regular borough council meetings are held the first and second Monday of the month at 7 p.m.
\nAfter the awards presentation, members of council and other borough employees rose in a rare standing ovation for a public servant. After the meeting adjourned, a brief party on Mr. Beckwith\u2019s behalf was held in a room adjoining the main council chambers on the second floor of the 87-year old Tyrone Borough Building. A building where Mr. Beckwith attended an estimated 2,000 council meetings during those 20 years as a council member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cHe brought experience and expertise to council that will be sorely missed,\u201d Tyrone Mayor Patricia Stoner told The Daily Herald regarding the departure of 20 year council veteran Jim Beckwith. Last night was Beckwith\u2019s last regularly scheduled council meeting. He took the opportunity to express his thoughts in a prepared statement to council and became […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}