(Photo courtesy Pale Whale Canoe Fleet.)
Clarion County is open for visitors, and Clarion County Commissioners Brosius, Tharan, and Heasley approved $4,980.00 for advertisements at its Tuesday morning meeting to let residents of Western Pennsylvania and part of Ohio know it is open for business.
Requested by the hotel tax committee, the online advertising that includes Facebook and other online sites such as Trib-Live.com produced by PA Great Outdoors (visitpago.com).
The four ads will concentrate on attractions in the county such as the Gateway to Cook Forest, craft beer and wineries, trails, and motorcycling.
The hotel tax fund comes from a tax charged to all hotels, cabins, and bed and breakfasts in Clarion County. While the tax fund has a healthy balance of $200,000.00 and can be carried over from year to year, commissioners are conservative on their approvals.
(PICTURED: Ed Heasley, Wayne Brosius, and Ted Tharan posed after the meeting with a measuring stick brought by Tharan for social distancing.)
“It’s a healthy budget, but the thing is there’s going to be an unhealthy payment coming to us because of the drop in business,” Tharan said. “I think the hotels and three of them are shut down and the others are only at 15 percent occupancy because of COVID. However, we’ve been prudent with the money in the last several years.”
Three resolutions were also approved:
- Resolution #8 of 2020 – Applying for a Greenways, Trails, and Recreation Program Grant from DCED for the Clarion Loop Trail – River Access Bicycle Connector Project.
- Resolution #9 of 2020 – Adding in that proof of income is necessary for the Determination of Per Capita Tax Exonerations.
- Resolution #10 of 2020 – Renewed a contract with Butcher and Winkler for CYS Conflict Counsel for the term of July 1,2020, to June 30, 2021, at a cost of $150.00 per hour. (No change in terms of the contract.) The contract is needed in case there is a conflict of interest for the appointed CYS solicitor. Logue and Urik, PC was appointed to act as CYS solicitor at a cost of $68,000.00 with a 0 to 40 percent county match.
Tharan insisted most actions be prefaced as pending legal approval.
Contracts approved included:
- Contract on behalf of Public Safety with MCM for professional services for 9-1-1 planning. Terms: 7/1/2020 to 6/30/2021 and 7/1/2021 to 6/30/2022. Cost: $12,000.00/term, a decrease from $17,000.00.
- Contract on behalf of Mental Health with Clarion Vocational Services to provide supported employment in the community. Term: 7/1/2020 to 6/30/2021. Cost: $54,817.00, county match up to 10 percent.
- Contract on behalf of Human Services with the Clarion Area Agency on Aging, Inc. for Home Delivered Meals. Term: 7/1/2020 to 6/30/2020, County match: zero percent. Costs are: Hot/Frozen – $3.96 – $4.04; Special Meals – $5.69 – $5.80; Congregate Meals – $3.96 – $4.04; and Shelf Stable Meals – $11.61 – $11.84/3 packs.
- Contract renewal on behalf of Human Services with Helpmates, Inc for homemaker services for adults. Cost: $18.36/hour to $19.88/hour. County Match: zero percent.
- Contract with Xtreme Cleaning Solutions for cleaning services for the Human Services building three times a week. The price per clean is $105.00.
In other business:
- Recognized the Tax Appeal Board appointment of Sal Mazzocchi as the Chairman of the Tax Appeal Board.
- Approved ten contract renewals on behalf of CYS with terms from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020.