SMETHPORT — The McKean County commissioners approved funding from the Marcellus Shale impact fee for trails and for at-risk bridges on Tuesday.
On the agenda was the approval of a $25,000 allocation from Act 13 funds, as recommended by the McKean County Planning Commission for Greenway Funds. The amount will be allocated in thirds to the Borough of Kane and MJ2KB Trail Club, both for Knox & Kane Rails to Trails, and to the Kinzua Valley Trail Association for the Kinzua Valley Trail extension project.
Commissioner Cliff Lane said, “The Knox & Kane project, we’ve been working on that since 2010-11. It’s good to see it expand and modernize.”
The planning commission also recommended a $40,000 allocation for at-risk bridges. Of the total, $10,000 will go to Bradford Township for the East Warren bridge replacement project, and $30,000 to Wetmore Township for the replacement of Dwights Road culverts.
Rick Fry, head of the planning commission, said, “These are some of the bridges we’ve identified that need help in the area.”
Repairing the bridges is good for the community, and for emergency responders, he added.
Also from Act 13 funds, the commissioners approved paying $47,820 to the McKean County Redevelopment Authority; $7,492 to the Office of Economic and Community Development, payable to the McKean County Redevelopment Authority; and $10,871.70 to the OECD.
In other business, commissioner Carol Duffy said the CASA of McKean County annual meeting was on Tuesday, and she expressed her appreciation to the volunteers and board members of the organization. “It’s been a challenging year,” she said. “Their work with children is certainly appreciated.”
Duffy also gave an update on the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. “Each year at the CCAP conference in Harrisburg, we select seven legislative priorities we focus on.”
That list will be announced soon, she said, adding, “We will be discussing this further in February” at the next meeting.
Lane added, “CCAP as an organization, it’s all the counties working together to help counties do things well. We work together to try to do something that helps all our citizens in all our counties.”
Also at the meeting, representatives of the Citizens for Constitutional McKean County asked how to go about making a presentation to the commissioners at a meeting. They were advised to reach out to chief clerk Pam Burlingame to make arrangements.
Jim Machuga said, “We’re just encouraging people to get involved. We need to get reconnected with how the process works. (Many) Americans don’t like where our country is headed.”
Lane said the commissioners welcome public comment.
“The public being involved is very important,” he said. “We want things to happen for everybody.
The next commissioners’ meeting is Feb. 8 at 10 a.m.
