Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

First item to come before the salary board today is the approval of the minutes from the May 12th, 2026 salary board meeting.

Move to approve.

I'll second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye. Second item, this request from Amanda Swatzworth, CYS administrator, to increase the CYS supervisor on-call stipend to $350 weekly.

I'm going to make a motion to table that.

I will second the motion to table that. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor?

Aye. Aye. And a no on that. You don't want to table it, John?

That was just a vote to table.

We're tabling. Oh, all right. I change. Okay.

That was just a vote to table for further discussion on that matter.

I wasn't paying attention.

Do we have anything else to come before the salary board today, gentlemen? Hearing none, do I have a motion to adjourn Salary Board? So moved. Second. Properly move and second. All in favor? Aye. We will now move on to the Board of Commissioners' Clearfield County meeting for June 9th. We will dispense with the Pledge of Allegiance as we have already done that with Salary Board. I believe everyone here has signed in. First item is to approve the minutes of the previous meeting, May 26, 2026. So moved. I'll second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye. Now we have a special guest for the approval of the bills, which will be Deputy Controller Andrea Smith.

All right. You wanted me to point out, too, that these totals encompass a three-week period. Usually we have two. This one encompassed three weeks. technical reasons so the general fund was thirteen million one hundred and sixty four thousand four hundred and twelve dollars and sixty three cents liquid fuels four hundred and four thousand one hundred and sixty seven dollars and fifty cents nine one one fifteen Domestic Relations 6,971.20 and CYS 860,477.78 for a grand total of 14,453,119. I have a motion to approve the bills as presented. So moved.

Properly moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye. Can we have the big print version that you were using? No. Yes.

I have great staff that knows me.

And thank you, Deputy Comptroller.

Thank you very much.

We'll now move on to personnel issues. The following items to come before the commissioners today. Under new hires, none. Under transfers, one full-time deputy sheriff under the Sheriff's Department, two special deputy sheriff under the Sheriff's Department, effective 6-1-2026. Separations and retirements. We have a District Justice Secretary under Magistrates Morris' office, effective 6-5-2026, FML leave of absence, request none. Do I have a motion to approve these personnel items as presented?

So moved.

I'll second. Properly moved and seconded. That covers personnel. We will move on to public comment. We are working on developing a new written public comment policy. As of now, we are going to continue with the statute, which is we're going to go with a 20-minute time limit on public comment. And by statute, we will give preference to taxpayers and residents of Clearfield County. Anything further to add to that, Counselor? We will have a formal written policy, but that is something we want to finish developing, and that will be an item that is voted on. We would ask that everyone please maintain proper decorum and identify yourself before speaking, except we will give preference to residents and taxpayers.

So residents first is basically what that means.

to serve in the public. I'm a taxpayer in the county in the borough of Clearfield. My name is Rick Mattern and I appreciate that initial comment about preference being given and not necessarily people that aren't taxpayers in the municipality being excluded because that's why I'm here. I'm here on behalf of those the commission seem to want to exclude from participating in our county's commission meeting and to convey my disagreement with the unfortunate misguided policy the commission is trying to enjoin. So, you know, Clear Fuel receives, unless I'm incorrect, something between four and five million dollars in federal tax dollars annually. Tax dollars, as we know, are pooled. Where they originate is anybody's guess, but you can bet it's all the United States combined, 50 states. So theoretically, everybody in this country is a taxpayer in Clearfield County. That's CDBG funds and any other federal funds that are accepted by the county from the federal government. I think that the policy defies logic and common sense. I think it's unconstitutional. And I think it's, at the very least, not specific enough to make any sense because, you know, if somebody's driving down I-80 and they're from Oklahoma and they're going to New York and they pull off and they go to Sheetz and they pay sales tax for snacks, you know, are they taxpayers? Somebody pays gas taxes in the state of Pennsylvania for which the money's all pooled and redistributed back to the state for different services, are they taxpayers? Who's going to make that decision? Who's going to vet that? Are we going to, you know, have to inspect receipts from people for having come through town or the county somewhere and decide whether they're taxpayers or not and get to speak in a public meeting. As far as the meetings being long, I feel that the commissioners are fairly compensated for their time, unlike a lot of other public entities in the county and the borough and boards and things where people quite often spend that amount of time or something near it without compensation. our meetings for being a length that's reasonable. Two hours is the length of a relatively short movie these days. So I would suggest that if you can't hang out for two hours for the length of a film at the Ritz, then maybe you shouldn't be on the board. And then everybody has a right to speak here, no matter where they're from, where they pay taxes, or where they originate. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good morning, my name is Cher Sheets. I'm a Clearfield resident, hospice chaplain, and small business owner. In the last meeting, I was very alarmed at the behavior of all of you. With no notice or warning, there was a policy, quote unquote, communicated by the solicitor stating that the Clearfield residents had to speak first during the time allotted. During every meeting for public comment, later it was communicated that only Clearfield residents were allowed to speak. There was also mention Then moving forward, public comment would be limited to things were on the agenda i want to address that first the sunshine act states the sunshine act gives the public the right to comment on issues that are or may be before the board agencies must provide a reasonable opportunity for residents and or taxpayers to comment on an issue before a decision takes place i argue that every single day you have a decision on how you navigate your oversight and ongoing contract with geo and ice This issue is always pertinent. There are people suffering in part because of your leadership. And as a resident of Clearfield, I cannot stay silent. And I won't. My first issue mentioned a moment ago was the unexpected policy change instituted by the solicitor at the last meeting without the awareness or consent of all commissioners. Mr. Glass, you were clear that you were not aware of this change and did not agree with it and its implementation. Solicitor, you stated that you had been told that there had been a conversation. It was obvious that Tim Winters had orchestrated behind the backs of his colleagues to set the solicitor up to take the fall for his manipulative silencing of people who are deeply concerned about the welfare of people being held in captivity in our county. To him. Being a bully is a lonely and unnecessary way to live and a disastrous way to lead. Do better or resign. Clearfield deserves leadership with compassion and a willingness to listen to the deeply health concerns people have about the human rights violations happening under said leadership. Again, I ask you, Tim Winters, do better or resign. I also want to say that I'm really frustrated that I had to address this with my three minutes because I would much rather be using this time to share the stories and the cries of the people who are residents of our county being held in detention camps. The voices of those people deserve to be heard.

Y'all know me. I'm Sandy Fink Barrett. I am a resident and taxpayer out in Ferguson Township. Not Clearfield proper, but out there we are part of this county. And as a resident, I'm asking that you support our efforts to close the Machana Valley Processing Center, which is a polite title for concentration camp. Those people were made residents of the county, not by their choice. I also want to assure you that I didn't sit back and make a decision to come and speak out because I'm a lazy liberal who likes to make waves. I am retired, I am a member of the clergy, and I believe that no individual deserves inhumane treatment, especially from a government that's long prided itself in taking the words of the Statue of Liberty to heart. That is why I'm here. I encourage you to review the contract that you all signed. But I implore you to open your eyes to the harsh realities that are happening every day in spite of what you happen to hear and accept as truths. The collective comments of the commissioners have alluded to the misconception that Mishannon has to be operating properly. But although Geo Group and other private prison contractors have terrible track records in regards to treatment of individuals in their custody, this would never happen in Mayberry. And this is simply not true. The people speaking out across the country have called it what it is. It does walk like a duck and it talks like a duck. We know what it is. There are unwritten policies that are currently being carried out at Ms. Shannon and these have resulted in pregnant women with health concerns being denied medical care. They've now been shipped out, so we don't even know where they are. A stage 3 diabetic not being given medical test results until months after those tests were conducted, and he still has received no care. If he doesn't get it shortly, he's going to end up on dialysis. I watched my companion die of kidney disease, and I do not want to see this person have the same fate. mental health meds routinely being withheld as unnecessary. Could this be the case with the recent suicide? We don't know. A clergy who was accused of sexual assault has been permitted to return to the Shannon and be around the detainees. These are the tip of the iceberg. Immigration itself is a complicated issue, but the issue with GEO is pretty clear. ICE currently nationwide has detained students here legally with visas. Workers that are here legally, children who are born here, people who have jumped through every hoop and met every immigration appointment only to be swept out of the building as they are arriving or leaving. Senior citizens who have lived here legally the majority of their adult life. A very small amount of true illegals. They're homeowners. They're business owners like a lot of us. And yes, other than children, these people are housed at your local concentration camp. None of these people were shoplifting at the local vape shop across town. They didn't get a DUI and grant yet. They weren't even picked up at a local factory rate. They were living their lives. They were working, living, loving, raising kids like you and I.

Thank you for your comments.

Thank you, Commissioners. My name is Chelsea Sweet, and I'm a resident of Perkinsville. Coming here to speak to you today is not easy. Some of us took off work to be here, moved appointments around, found a ride with someone else, brought our infants. But we had to find a way to be here today because something told us to speak out on what we believe is right, even when it is not easy. So many of my friends, neighbors, former classmates have sent me private messages thanking me for coming here previously to speak on the issue of Mochana Valley Processing Center because it is not easy for them. Residents of our community fear losing their employment which is already scarce. They fear social backlash, and they fear physical harm sometimes for speaking out against our association with CHEO and ICE. I often see people in the Facebook comments criticizing local activists as only old people and middle-aged moms, but these are the people who don't risk their family's livelihood when they decide to make a public stance. You may not see many private residents of Clearfield County lining up at this door to face public scrutiny Of their personal opinions at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, most of us are at work. But do not mistake low representation for low interest. People are deeply interested in the future of Clearfield County. We used to be known for our rich natural resources, lumber, coal, and stone. Clearfield County grew into a hub of innovative manufacturing for decades. Then the jobs left. Now we're making national headlines for hosting the Northeast's largest concentration camp. And yes, Commissioner Winters, it is a concentration camp in every sense of the word. Not only are we engaging in the for-profit trade of human beings, but we're becoming notorious for the ill-treatment that those detained receive here. One's humanity does not change with one's immigration status. I urge the Commission to exert greater oversight and transparency at the GEO facility and to demand the level of compassion and care for those detained as you would ask for your own family members. And to remember that the legacy of Clearfield County is in question.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

Hi, I'm Kelly Kennedy from Clearfield County. And I'd like to speak on behalf of those that reside. I'd like to speak on behalf of immigration. Do you guys know the percentage of people in there that were It takes a long time to become a citizen here. Years. 10, 11, 12 years. And a lot of them were pulled out of doing their duty, going to their immigration hearings. And that's why they're in there. Do you know the percentage of people with no, they did nothing, they were just in there pulled out of trying to do the right thing to become a citizen? They were spending money, they were going to their hearings, they did this. yanked them out of their immigration court hearing threw them in there okay and they have no access to talk to their lawyers to go through the process of becoming a citizen like they have been doing for years most of these people are trying to do the right thing and you're not letting them like you're you yank them i'd like to know if the next meeting if you guys can Okay, what is the percentage of people that actually have criminal? I want to know. Yeah, what the percentage is. And what the percentage is for non-criminal. That they're just trying to do the right thing. Because it's, believe me, it's the people trying to do the right thing that has a higher percentage than the people that have a traffic ticket. This whole entire administration is making our country look bad. I travel. I've traveled out of this country many times. You go somewhere, and there, it's embarrassing. And it's embarrassing to say I live in Clearfield County with the largest concentration camp in the Northeast. And that's what they are. And I truly, I've traveled the world. Believe me, I don't just live my life around here. And believe me, people everywhere I go, and this has been going on the last 10 years, they want to know what's wrong with us. What happened to us? We were America. And get yourself on a trip and try to explain. It's more better to go on a trip out of this country and pretend you're from Canada than to say I'm an American. And that's embarrassing. This whole thing. We have to do something to help these people. If they are only in there and they were going through the process to become a citizen, they shouldn't be there.

Thank you for your comments. I'm Sam Lozier. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Sam Lozier, and I'm trying to be brief. All across this great nation of ours, we have small communities just like us who are fighting against the federal government's immigration policy. They're fighting against adding additional places to house people who are here just because they're trying to make a living for themselves and their families. It's been mentioned by some of the members of this committee here that the only reason we're here is because we disagree with the federal policy. And you're right. Without the federal policy, we wouldn't need to be here. But though what your power is limited, you know, I hear you say that if we shut down O'Shannon, that doesn't mean that the federal government will pull out of there. But it does mean that as a community, we're no longer submitting to a policy that takes advantage of people who are very much less fortunate than everybody sitting in this room. Look at the community around you and see what the community that you want to represent stands for, or what you want your representation to stand for. And use your heart to think about the people who are less fortunate than you. And do your part, a small part, to push back against an unjust federal policy

I live in Frenchville, and I am appalled. I'm not one for writing fancy speeches, but I can answer a couple of questions. ICE detainment is a civil detainment. Anyone who has an active criminal proceeding against them would be in criminal detainment, because that's how the legal system in this country works. Therefore, no one in the ICE facility is currently in an active criminal proceeding, unless they are in overflow, unless I'm mistaken. Yeah, so let's just take the criminal bit and oh, let's add on detainees have human rights, criminals have human rights, immigrants have human rights. Even if every person in that facility had committed a violent crime, they would still be obliged to the protections that the Constitution offers to everyone who resides in this nation. And just before I make my next point, I want to double check. Are any of you Lenape? No. Unless you are Lenape of the Iroquois or Susquehanna, you are descended from immigrants. You're not from here either. Neither am I. You guys approved the Clearfield Choral Arts Society concert. Thank you for coming. I'm in that organization. I appreciated your applause. You declared that event the semi-quincentennial event. That was a concert celebrating immigrants, you hypocrites. Be ashamed of yourself.

All right. I am one of those outsiders from Clarion County an hour away. Although I do spend all of my, you know, my whole medical team is in this county, of which I have a lot of specialists. I'm here a lot. I shop here. So am I a taxpayer? You decide. What I am here to do today is read a story from a gentleman who is currently in Mo Shannon. My fiance is, I guess it's a fiance of somebody currently detained. I apologize. is currently detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center. While being detained here, where he should be safe because he is under ICE custody, he was jumped and stabbed by other detainees and the officers stood and watched as he was stabbed in the back of his head. Because of this incident, he now suffers from extreme migraines He has lost vision in his left eye, permanently wearing glasses now. Also, the medical staff and the protocol that is used for care is extremely unacceptable. The amount of time you have to wait to be seen by medical staff for an emergency, a non-medical emergency, is ridiculous. Me and my family are struggling day by day because of his detention and the uncertainty of knowing if he is okay caused me to go through insomnia and depression. My fiance is my sole caregiver and since he has been detained, I have no help physically, financially, emotionally, His support is gone and I am paralyzed. And the only way to ambulate is wheelchair. I am wheelchair bound. He has missed the birth of our twin boys who are in the children's hospital. They are currently in the NICU on their ventilator fighting for their lives. I have to go on every day with the uncertainty of whether he will be back or he will be okay as well as my babies and try to go on every day with all of these things happening. is currently taking a toll on me. He is currently in the SHU for an excessive amount of time. He has no infractions. He is just being held there. No person should have to feel unsafe, medically neglected, and punished for no reason. As a result of his continued detention, I am going through a lot of complications. I respectfully ask that because of the medical attention he needed for his injury and also the kidney disease that he has developed while being there, the excessive shoe time, safety concerns, the hardship that I am facing, and also his family ties.

Thank you for your comments.

Yeah. I didn't catch your name. Kaylee McLaughlin.

I'm on the list. Thanks, Kaylee. My name is Bobby Erickson. I'd like to read the statement of Amanda Tain. He actually went around his pod and took stories from multiple people so that all of them could be represented here today as Clearfield County residents. parole to see his two beautiful baby girls expunged record kidnapped from his truck after dropping off daughter at daycare no criminal record thrown into solitary to sleep on the cold floor on Christmas Eve after getting roughed up again no record Never served any paperwork before getting pressured into voluntary self-deport. No priors of any kind. Detained, placed in removal proceedings, and found deplorable despite entering legally and living legally for over a decade. as a job-creating business owner. No criminal record whatsoever. Dying slowly in detention as their parole requests for emergency treatment get ignored for months. No criminal record. Suffering terminal illnesses under slow and in some cases unavailable or inadequate treatment. No criminal record. Actually dying only a month into detention due to preventable illnesses, kidney disease and diabetes. Expunged record. Starved beyond 40 pounds of shed body weight. No criminal record. Deported after only their aging parent passed away abroad. Expunged record. Deported into a post-Civil War impoverished economy with no ability to support his babies from there. Expunged record. Arrested and jailed for their status upon arrival to the country. They fled. No criminal record in the US. Dead within days after being deported to a country they've never lived in. No criminal record. If you thought these were all one or two victims, you'd be sorely mistaken. If you thought these were illegals, you'd also be mistaken. If you thought these instances were exaggerated or fabricated as some of you have insisted they are, You are more than welcome to meet the ones still alive to speak with. If you knew which of these applied to me personally, then you've been following the news better and we may have even met recently. Most importantly, without context, if you thought these were the decisions and actions of a criminal enterprise openly engaging in racketeering, you should be afforded genuine forgiveness for not understanding how these horrific transgressions These flagrant ethnic cleansing has turned into common propriety, normalized and acceptable among the rest of society that hasn't yet been tossed into these desolate dungeons with barely any due process involved. Simply look at the Third Circuit's docket to understand this. Hunt all immigrants. Hunt them down. Hunt them all down. The nurse and I overheard a short, long-bearded officer with questionable tattoos brag out loud to his associates in February. Every single least one of them, he emphasized. My blood pressure, she was checking, was already beyond 155, as the nurse and I shared a disturbed look with each other listening to that.

Thank you for your comments.

Every word I've ever read is from a Clearfield resident.

That will conclude our public comment portion today. We have gone slightly over the allotted 20 minutes. We will now move on to our regularly scheduled business meeting. First off, we have Mr. Dennis Bancuso with us. He's going to have a message on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Dennis, as an employee of Mature Resources of Clearfield County.

Thank you, Tim. As the Director of Business Development for Mature Resources Area Agents on Aging, I am here today to have commissioners do a proclamation for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The agency itself is having a program on June 15th at Trinity United Methodist Church. The Attorney General's office will be here to do a presentation on elder abuse. And Mature Resources Protective Services will also do a presentation and will be serving lunch afterwards. So you're more than welcome to attend. I'm just going to read the proclamation then. Whereas older adults deserve to be treated with respect and dignity to enable them to serve as leaders, mentors, volunteers, and vital participation members of our community, whereas in 2006 the International Network for Prevention of Elder Abuse in support of United Nations International Plan of Action proclaimed a day to recognize the significance of elder abuse as a public health and human rights issue, and whereas the National Center on Elder Abuse and Mature Resources Area Agency on Aging recognizes the importance of taking action to raise awareness to prevent and address elder abuse, and whereas ageism and social isolation are major causes of elder abuse in the United States, and whereas preventing abuse of older adults through maintaining and improving social supports like senior centers, human services, Transportation will allow everyone to continue to live as independently as possible and contribute to the life and vibrancy of our community. And whereas there is justice, there can be no abuse. Therefore, the National Center of Elder Abuse urges all people to restore justice by honoring older adults. Whereas join us. and are engaging in empowering movement and putting an end to abuse. Therefore, we the commissioners of Clearfield County do hereby proclaim June 15, 2026 as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Clearfield County and encourage all of our communities to recognize and celebrate older adults and their ongoing contributions to the success and vitality of our county.

Thank you, Dennis. Gentlemen, do I have a motion to accept this proclamation proclaiming World Elder Abuse Day? So moved. I'll second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye.

How about the elders in the Shannon Valley Processing Center?

If you're going to be disruptive, you can leave.

If anyone disrupts proper decorum of the meeting, they will either be asked to leave or removed. Thank you. We now have a presentation from our county planner. Dennis, let's get a, we'll get a picture and then we'll have, let Jody get her technology set up here.

Thank you. Thank you for tech support.

We can dim the lights a little. We now have Jody Brannon, our county planner, which is a presentation on high impact development. You will go into the definitions of

I want to talk about today introducing a concept called high impact development, or what we're calling GID. It's a proposed additional layer to the county's existing subdivision land development ordinance. It does not replace our ordinance. It builds upon it. It only applies to very large projects that come in. It gives the county a predictable, consistent framework to review traffic, stormwater, utilities, emergency access, construction phase impacts early before it issues a damage problem. It's especially important in areas like ours in rural America where we don't have zoning, where large projects could otherwise move forward without early infrastructure review. For developers, the HID process exactly what's needed up front, reducing lessons, prizes, and helping projects move along more smoothly. So what is HID? It's a design-focused review process, like I said, for large, high-impact developments. It doesn't regulate land-user operations. It looks strictly at the items counties are authorized to review under the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code, under Subdivision of Land Development, So we can only look at design and construction impacts only.

Is environment one of those?

A little bit. I would let her go through her thing, please. I'll probably get to that. Yes, ma'am. My apologies. Yeah, no problem. And it also introduces equivalent performance, which lets developers propose alternative design solutions that, as long as they meet or exceed their functional performance, And it keeps the process flexible, engineering driven, rather than one size fits all. You want to go to the next slide? OK, what this means for local municipalities. So many residents and even some municipal officials will often look to the county, thinking the county has broad regulatory authority over land use, when in reality, the opposite is true. Counties do not have the legal ability to stop unwanted development. Only local municipalities with their own zoning and land use ordinances have that power. Counties are frequently asked to intervene, but state law simply does not give them that authority. Because of this limited role, we're looking at this high impact development that counties can fall under and regulate under subdivision land development as a way to help out those municipalities who don't have zoning. So this would only apply to the municipalities that fall under the county subdivision land development ordinance because here in Pennsylvania local municipal authority always comes first. We can never override the county's ordinance cannot override zoning or local regulations. So for municipalities under the county ordinance, this would give them a consistent engineering-based framework for evaluating large developments. It helps identify the impacts early. improves coordination, and does not create new obligations for local municipalities. And also, I see this as an opportunity for, I would say, about probably 30 municipalities are under the county ordinance. The remaining municipalities in the county have their own ordinance or zoning. So for those municipalities that have their own subdivision land development ordinance, I'm looking at this. This would be like an overlay. This would be a separate chapter that would provide another layer of extra scrutiny and review for those high impact developments. And this would be a great template for other municipalities, not just here in Cleveland County, but I'm hoping for our rural Pennsylvania area as well. I DO WORK QUITE A BIT WITH OUR PENNSYLVANIA WILDS PARTNERS, AND THEY'RE ALL STRUGGLING WITH NEW DEVELOPMENT AS WELL. SO I'M HOPING THIS IS A TOOL FOR CLEARFIELD COUNTY BUT OTHER RURAL AREAS AS WELL.

DO YOU WANT TO GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE?

WHY DO WE NEED IT? WELL, WE'RE SEEING A LOT OF LARGE FACILITIES INCREASINGLY LOOKING AT RURAL PENNSYLVANIA, AND WE DON'T HAVE ZONING. SO WITHOUT ZONING, COUNTIES CAN'T REVIEW THOSE PROJECTS UNTIL LATE IN THE PROCESS WHEN KEY DECISIONS HAVE ALREADY BEEN MADE. This would give the county a legally appropriate tool to evaluate infrastructure impacts early, looking at roads, queueing, stormwater, utility capacity, and emergency access. It also helps responsible developers by giving them clear expectations up front so they avoid costly redesigns later. Next slide. Thank you. And just I want to reiterate what we can and cannot regulate in the county. So under the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code, counties can, through subdivision, have authority over site design. So when it comes to design, we can design, look at the road, traffic, stormwater, all the things that we mentioned. It also looks at, we don't want to avoid or over-regulate. We don't want to duplicate. So if PennDOT or DAP already requires a study, then we'll accept that study. Then we'll have to produce extra versions. It's equally important to be clear about what counties cannot regulate. We can't regulate land use. It doesn't matter what land use, we're only being able to regulate the design and construction. So it's not land use, it's not zoning. We don't operate our, we don't regulate operations, hours, of the businesses, routing, truck schedules, noise or lighting, emissions, water, electricity, consumption. And we'll talk about what we can. So six, next slide. So this one here, I just want to point out when this would kick in. We have triggers. So it only applies when a project's so large that it noticeably changes how the roads, utilities, or storm systems function. Think of it, something that turns on only when a project reaches a big project scale, you know, the kind you can't miss when you drive by. So some examples that would trigger would be a very large building, maybe something like a distribution center, warehouse, industrial facility. Maybe it's a major traffic generator, hundreds of thousands of vehicle trips a day, peak hours, surges, or perhaps a site with major earth disturbances, or a very large utility user. Maybe they need to have electric feeders or transformers. Maybe they require large fire flow. demands or water system upgrades, such as the data center, cold storage facility, or manufacturing plant. These are projects that have big footprints, have long access roads, large parking, loading areas, and major utility hookups. They're impossible to confuse with normal development. And now I want to kind of touch on what it doesn't impact. So typical development that we see would not be triggered with this PID overlay. So your typical small farms, homes, shops, restaurants, and businesses would not be required to do this extra review process because they're not generating enough impacts, like with their traffic, land disturbance, utility requirements. That's why we think this HID would work well for everyone. It would focus its attention on all day those projects that really have truly high impacts and it keeps the process predictable and limited to where it's needed. Next. Just a couple of examples for you. So let's say a distribution center generating converts of trucks a day. They would need safe driveway design and queue management so the trucks don't queue up on the rural roads or block school bus routes. Or for example, a solar project disturbing more than 25 acres of property, and they need proper stormwater runoff coordination so they're not impacting downstream. neighbors or data center with a very large electrical needs requires early coordination with the utility to confirm capacity ensure developer funds the required upgrades so it's protecting residents by making sure these issues are addressed identified early in design not after approvals or construction when problems are going to be harder and more expensive to fix. So just a couple examples. We were talking a little bit about environmental stuff. Like, for example, we're going to be looking at protecting private wells nearby water systems through the design. So if we know that if there are certain private wells within a certain perimeter of the development, we would make sure that they would do the proper hydraulic review, mapping of the wells, but also looking at making sure the developers, not the taxpayers, pay for any required utility or roadway upgrades. We'd also, though we can't control noise and impacts, but we can through design, for example, protect rural character by requiring offering landscaping, screening, burns, and inward orientation of truck ports, parking areas, industrial features, so they're pulled away from houses, farms, and scenic roadways. And we also can control through construction, minimize some of those construction-based disruptions, BY REQUIRING HALL ROAD COORDINATION, DUST AND BUD REMOVAL, WORK ZONE SAFETY PLANNING, AND ALSO PRE-POST ROAD CONDITION DOCUMENTATION. AND WE'RE LOOKING AT PROTECTING COUNTIF ROADS AND RIDICULOUS ACCESS, MAKING SURE THEY'RE COORDINATING ENTRANCE DESIGN, SAFE TURNING MOVEMENTS. AND OF COURSE, WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING'S TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE, THAT ALL ANY TYPE OF IMPACT ANALYSIS WOULD REQUIRE LICENSED ENGINEERING. THANKS. I think you're headed there. I won't take too much here, but I wanted to give you an example of what I was talking about earlier about not duplication as far as, for example, if Penn.DEP or the Conservation District is regulating a permit, whether it's MPDS with the runoff of the stormwater, Just something else to keep in mind is that Pennsylvania DEP does regulate water, not water withdrawals, but they're a part of it. The Susquehanna River Basin would regulate water withdrawals. The DEP would regulate in terms of like thermal conditions of the water. So we would coordinate with them. We wouldn't override. We would just make sure that the developer is early up front working with these entities to make sure they're getting what they need in place. And I want to be clear, the county cannot regulate electric or water consumption. That is done by the regulatory utilities. All we can do with this is we can require a written confirmation about the utility provider saying that the system has enough capacity to serve the project and what upgrades are needed for safe, reliable service. So that's how we would interact in that terms. So I'm gonna go to the next slide. I just wanted to talk a little bit about how this is different. Across Pennsylvania, counties typically rely on local municipal zoning ordinances to, you know, review large projects. But in rural municipalities without zoning, there's often no early review of infrastructure or impacts. So this would provide us that coordination. So it feels like that. that has this proactive engineering framework for high impact development. It's a brand new concept in terms of providing an overlay. Typically you'll see an overlay with zoning, like let's say data centers come about. They would put another layer of just specific to data centers on top of their zoning ordinance. So this is something new, trying to stay within our lane of what we can regulate. trying to be innovative and overcoming the issues that we foresee coming down the road. So, if you want to move on, we'll go to the next one. We have two more slides here. Just want to reiterate what it does not do. And again, we can't regulate operational noise, lighting performance, but we could in design. For example, we can have downward-directed shielding lighting pictures that face away from homes and roadways. We can make sure that through building orientation, buffering, and vegetation screening to reduce noise and exposure. We can place truck court's equipment inward away from neighbors. So we can control some of this stuff through design. So that's what we're looking to do. We can't control operational controls because we don't have that authority. So this would be a way to focus on what we can do to provide some meaningful protections to our homes and farms and our rural areas. And then I'll just wrap up here on the last slide. This draft is just a place, a chance to begin this conversation with everybody, with the public, with the commissioners. We've been talking about this with our planning commission for months now. working through multiple iterations trying to build this so it's solid, that it's flexible, that it's fair, that it's designed by engineering standards, not some really numbers that we come up with. Everything is based off engineering standards that are accepted by state or federal regulations. So this is that first step, introducing the concept, getting feedback. But the formal process will be for the planning commission will review this new chapter, and they would provide recommendations to the commissioners. And I think they're leaning towards, yes, this sounds like a great idea. So how this next step would be is they would come back to the commissioners saying, hey, we think this is a great idea. We recommend that you consider adopting this as another chapter onto the subdivision land development ordinance. And then there would be a formal process for public input that would begin as defined in the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code. So at this point, I'm not asking you to do anything. This is just an introductory. And there will be another huge formal process and opportunity for public comment.

And if I'm not mistaken, No other county that you're aware of has taken this, so we're kind of ahead of the game here.

No, and everybody's waiting to see if this all pans out, because everybody's asking, even consultants are asking, do you have this ready? Because it's something that's really desired out there, so this is going to be something new and modern.

I think it's great that you're being so proactive about this. We are limited in what we can do at the county level, but I think this will be a great way to make sure that any big projects that come get the attention they need from nothing else. You're alerting the municipality to, hey, these are some of the issues I see that you might want to consider.

So it's great. And I can tell you from practical experience, Judy, I agree with Dave's comments because the past two municipal meetings I've been to with clients, Number one, they are all worried about data centers right now. They don't have zoning. And there are sample ordinances, templates of ordinances coming out there. and they latch onto them, but what they don't see is there's always modification of existing zoning ordinances. And unlike solar, when solar was the hot topic, there were occasionally, there would be some standalone ordinances. I'm not seeing them yet as far as, so I think this is very important because it gives me something I can tell them that we're working on that we can partner with them on. I'm sorry.

And I was just going to say, what I like about this is being proactive, not reactive. So there's always going to be that next big thing. Everybody's going to be fearful about, are we going to regulate this? This is looking at the impacts. Yeah. And it doesn't matter what the use is. So it's being proactive, not reactive. So if this stands, then it would be applied to any human plant use that would fall under the definition. of land development was not the same exactly as zoning. Zoning talks about structures. Land development talks about buildings. We do see some solar development, but in terms of lease. A lease is considered a subdivision, but not land development. So there's tricky wording here. So playing within the boundaries that the state law provides us, we're doing the best we can to try to offset any impacts. And we want development. This is not a discussion. development that's willing to work with our municipalities, want to bring in some contribute to the community. We also are looking at an incentive policy to encourage community benefits, another requirement, but trying to establish good community relations.

Now thank you so much for taking the lead on this and this is something that has came up at statewide conferences. Land use and land use regulation in rural Pennsylvania. there's so many people are not aware of who controls what and this is not a this is not a limiting this is setting guidelines and we've seen this even within the county local municipalities that don't have zoning this will be a huge help to them for things to look for things to work out on their end but we do appreciate your effort ethan could you hit the lights back up a little bit please thank you thank you and i do have some And interestingly enough, we will move on to our next item, which is also going to be Jody. This is to consider ARC grant application by North Central PA LaunchBox to support industry workforce training.

Yes. Just a little history here. agreed to an ARC pre-application on behalf of Penn State LaunchBox for an industry 4.0 academy initiative. This goal was to, initiative was to acquire equipment that would support training for high school students and adult learners in industry technologies including additive manufacturing, robotics, automation, cyber security, artificial intelligence. And they were invited to submit a formal application They did reduce the request amount to $300,000 remaining to enforce full submission. And just to touch base, as we know, Penn State Du Bois is closing, but the Launch Box is still part of Penn State. So we're revamping. So what they're planning on doing is updating the plan to reflect this reduced funding. They're shifting the scope of this project, shifting from being located at the Penn State Dubois site. They are looking at utilizing mobile training units that they would be taking out to the schools. It would be flexible, so they could actually deliver at the schools in our region direct training related to workforce. These mobiles would be onsite for schools, adult programming, other partners. Instead of working with Penn State Dubois, since they are now closing, they would be working with Penn State Continuing Education. So they are ready. The application for a full application is due June 12th, and I've been working with Johnny in case you're ready. I need your permission to submit that. I think it's great because our region has seen three closures with Triangle Tech, Dubois-Penn State, Clearfields-Lock Haven Campus, It's really a huge impact to our youth, and I think this is a great, anything we can do to help bring training to our kids and give them an advantage is a good thing.

Okay, gentlemen, do I have a motion to move forward with the ARC grant application by North Central? We would be basically a pass-through on this.

So moved. Second. Properly moved and second. All in favor? Aye.

Thank you, and thank you, Jody, for both presentations there. reset our people slightly here and we will move on to our next item which would be an item for consider agreement with central intermediate unit 10 for adult educational services I'm assuming this is a existing agreement that we have had with CIU 10 that's correct and this helps this is relevant to the Clearfield County Jail it helps for adult education courses as well as GED classes and

for them to be able to continue to provide those services within the jail. And it's just for the program year of 26-27, as far as that would go.

Okay, gentlemen, motion to enter into the agreement for the period of 26-27 with CIU-10 for adult educational services. I will be happy to move. Second. Properly moved and second. All in favor? Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Consider master service agreement with Granite Telecommunications for the new county phone system. You recall we put out a request for bids and proposals and received a huge amount for the phone systems and we have selected Granite Telecommunications. If you want to give us a little take on this.

We have a, Granite, again, as you said, we received OVER 20 RESPONSES. AFTER REVIEWING THEM, WE HAD DECIDED TO MOVE FORWARD WITH GRANITE TELECOMMUNICATIONS. OUR IT DEPARTMENT HAD BEEN IN COMMUNICATIONS WITH THEM, AND THEN LATE LAST WEEK, WE WERE PROVIDED WITH A MASTER SERVICES AGREEMENT THAT DID COME IN LATE ON THURSDAY. I HAD A CHANCE TO REVIEW IT. THERE'S A FEW SMALL CHANGES just of things that we normally don't have in our contracts with Choice of Law and different provisions that do need to be amended. They are proposing it would be a three-year agreement, but it's fairly in line with the proposal as far as costs and everything. Because those changes have not been made this morning, I would ask that you approve that pending final approval of those few items.

25 or 26 of these proposals that were not necessarily one-to-one comparisons. So, do we have a motion to enter the agreement with Granite Telecommunications pending final approval? Sure. I'll move. And I will second. Properly moved and seconded. All in favor? Aye.

It's been a long time coming. How about it, Ethan? Yeah. I've been working on this for years.

Oh, man. I'm sorry.

we can tell the enthusiasm is anything from a solicitor I would like to request an executive session for personnel after the meeting so okay I have a couple we won't have any action item I have a couple things before we go into an executive session first off entering the summer season a ton of things to do here in Clearfield County particular this weekend there is the downtown Clearfield festival community days in Dubois, Grampian days, and parade going on Saturday. Encourage everyone to get out and enjoy the huge amount of things that there are to do in Clearfield County. Largely free events. This weekend is a great number of them. And as a special moment today, we wish a happy 73rd birthday to our fellow commissioner, Mr. John Sobel. Never thought I'd make it.

Happy birthday, John.

Thank you. Thank you. We're going to do a lengthy proclamation, but no. I couldn't write it short enough.

We need you to write it, though.

Yeah, I couldn't write it short enough. Anything else to come before the board? Then we will. Make a move to go into an executive session for personnel at 11.29 a.m. So moved. Second. Any properly move and second? No, there won't be any action. No action will be taken from this.

Do we need to adjourn the regular meeting? You can do it. If you want to adjourn and do an executive session, it's going to probably make more sense.

I'll motion to adjourn the regular meeting. And I'll second that. Properly moved and seconded to adjourn. All in favor? Aye. Meeting adjourned. I have a motion to go into it.