CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – Clarion County Commissioner Ted Tharan shed some light on county projects and accomplishments, providing some news mixed in with thank you’s and shout out’s.
The cost of lights at night at the Clarion County Park dropped dramatically, and Tharan thinks it will increase usage of the park and bring in some people who will stay in local hotels.
“We were able to agree with Central Electric, and we now have use of the lights at night, and it’s not going to cost us $700 a night; it’s now going to cost us $20 an hour,” said Tharan.
“We encourage different groups — the Strikers have already told us they want to practice next week — and they can have tournaments there that will bring people in who will stay at hotels when they have their weekend tournaments Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and generate revenue. We’re also going to encourage people to use the ball fields at night.”
Tharan also had some people he wanted to thank.
“I want to thank Chad Johnson and Brady Ion from IT who helped us set up several plans in the last year and run fiber lines; we just finished the DA office, probation, the Human Services Building saving the county more than $20,000. We need to give a shout out to Jeff Smathers, director of public safety, for coming here and helping to do these improvements. We are also saving money.”
Maintenance was the next area for thank you’s.
“John Stiglitz and the (maintenance) crew John Wolbert, Crag Toad Hoffman, Jay Nugent, Austin Chambers, Zack Heck, Luke Ochs, Shirley Jean Shirey, and the work that they’ve done for the county in the last year and a half. They just got finished with the Memorial Park cleaning it up, putting flowers all around and at the courthouse. I’ve had four compliments on how it’s starting to look. The same goes for the people working at Clarion County Park. I want to commend those guys on all of the work that they have done. This new conference room is an example of what they do for us here. This room was the old HR room, and now it’s a conference training room.”
Add Cindy Fleming to the new position of accounts payable/procurement coordinator and the work she has done.
The Brady Tunnel was next on Tharan’s list of thank you’s.
“I also want to do a big thank you for the Brady Tunnel. Last night (Monday) we were able to secure the final letter of support from Madison Township. Without that letter, the total project would have fallen apart. I have got to thank Kelly Himes, Lanny Himes, and Greg Seibert for signing the letter. Allan Carmichael from Toby Township provided all of his work and time to pull this all together with Chris Ziegler of the Allegheny Valley Land Trust. Last night was the drop deadline.”
Ziegler explained the project at an earlier meeting of the Clarion County Commissioners.
“The rehabilitation of the East Brady Tunnel is directly under the overlook, half mile railroad tunnel, and we want to open it back up for pedestrian use, and it will connect five miles of the Northern Trail and 30 south. It is an integral part of the Erie to Pittsburgh trail.”
