In the locker room of the Altoona Curve, Blair County Commissioner John Eichelberger announced he will seek a third term in the office of Blair County commissioner.
\nAs commissioner, Eichelberger played a prominent role in the existence of Blair County Ballpark, an addition to the Blair County Courthouse, a new wing at the Valley View Home Home, the Blair County Convention Center and changes at the Altoona-Blair County Airport and the Blair County Prison.
\nBefore Eichelberger took the podium, Sinking Valley resident Frank Long talked of Eichelberger\u2019s commitment to farmland and watershed preservation.
\n\u201cI would like to put three words together \u2013 agriculture, conservation and John Eichelberger,\u201d said Long, the chairman of the Blair County Conservation District Board. \u201cJohn has been very active in the Farmland preservation part of the County. This covers all parts of the agriculture land in the county. At the present time we have 23 farms and 3,619 acres in farmland preservation.\u201d
\nJohn has energy, passion and commitment,\u201d said Don Ruggery, Blair County Airport Authority chair. \u201cJohn explained to me his vision of privitazing the Blair County Airport. That meant seeking out a company with proven success to properly manage the county\u2019s airport. Up to this point John was met with considerable resistance. John\u2019s motivating skills have greatly contributed to transforming the Blair County Airport from a financial loser, I mean using thousands of Blair County citizens tax dollars to an independent profit making airport. Believe me, this was no easy task. At the end of the first year under private management, I held up a check for $7.85. That was the profit we made in the first year. We saved thousands of tax dollars for the people of this county.\u201d
\nEichelberger is working with the commissioners to preserve the heritage of Fort Roberdeau.
\n\u201cWe have a great relationship in Blair County with the elected officials and employees of the county,\u201d said Eichelberger. \u201cWe have a lot of people who do a lot of good work and don\u2019t get a lot of recognition. I want to say how important we have in Blair County together.
\n\u201cI want to thank the many people who serve on the boards and authorities that the county has in place,\u201d said Eichelberger. \u201cThose people serve without any pay and with very little recognition. There is a lot of heartache and a lot of hours. It is phenonimal and they are they give up time from their businesses and away from their families. There is a lot of people who know what it is like and I appreciate it.\u201d
\nEichelberger looked to the future of Blair County.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re seeing improvements here at the ballpark,\u201d said Eichelberger. \u201cThe new ownership group has taken the Altoona Curve to a new level. They are making a big private investment here and they will continue to do that.\u201d
\nEichelberger talked about some future developments at the Blair County Airport.
\n\u201cThis spring we will start construction of a state police aviation unit,\u201d said Eichelberger. \u201cThis will serve our area as well as the region. We will have one plane or one helicopter stationed at the airport 24 hours a day. That was a competitive process that we won. That is due to the great staff that we have out there. We will see a new fixed-based operator terminal in the next two years. We have announced a blue ribbon panel to study flight\u2019s east. We will see if we can draw a carrier in who will have flights east which will benefit our airport.\u201d
\nEichelberger has questioned making the records of the Blair County Convention Center public.
\n\u201cI am going to continue to push for full financial disclosure at the Convention Center,\u201d said Eichelberger. \u201cI think there is a lot of questions that need to be answered there. I am not getting a lot of cooperation on that end from the authority. We need to be vigilant. We need to have more information about who uses the facility, what the bottom line is there, what their expenditures are on a monthly basis and what their income is on a monthly basis. Every convention center operator that I have had discussions with give full financial disclosures monthly to their operating authority. We don\u2019t do that here.\u201d
\nEichelberger also spoke of the 65-bed, two-story expansion of the Blair County Prison that is scheduled for completion this year.
\nEichelberger addressed challenger Barry Wright\u2019s claim that Wright will be a full-time commissioner and Eichelberger isn\u2019t.
\n\u201cI will attend at least 240 meetings this year,\u201d said Eichelberger. \u201cI have attended over 96 percent of the county meetings and boards that I have been part of since January 1996. The commissioner meetings I have a 99 percent attendance rate. I work more than 40 hours per week for Blair County and will continue to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the locker room of the Altoona Curve, Blair County Commissioner John Eichelberger announced he will seek a third term in the office of Blair County commissioner. As commissioner, Eichelberger played a prominent role in the existence of Blair County Ballpark, an addition to the Blair County Courthouse, a new wing at the Valley View […]<\/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-47318","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\/47318","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=47318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}