Mail-in, absentee ballots going out next week

Mail-in and absentee ballots requested by voters are expected to be mailed out next week, announced Commissioner Alan Hall at the Wednesday, Sept. 23 commissioners meeting. Commissioner Elizabeth Arnold was absent from the meeting.
He reported that the ballot had been finalized and sample ballots were due to arrive at the courthouse this week.
The sample ballot is available to review on the Voter Registration page of the county website, www.susqco.com.
The Susquehanna County Board of Elections will be holding a meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 8, along with the regular meeting of the county commissioners.
Hall also said the November commissioners’ meetings would be moved to Nov. 4 and 18 – the first and third Wednesdays of the month instead of the second and fourth, due to the Veterans Day and Thanksgiving holidays.
October was recognized as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Susquehanna County, with Tiffany Benedict of the Women’s Resource Center (WRC), providing an update for the commissioners.
Benedict said, “2020 has been a challenging year in so many ways.” She reported that so far this year, WRC has assisted 272 women and children in the county; received over 1,000 calls to its hotline number; and provided over 100 nights of safe housing to 11 women and eight children.
Usually, October brings the “An Empty Place at the Table” traveling display to the county, but with the pandemic that is not able to be done this year, Benedict said.
Awareness events include painting rocks, with people encouraged to paint rocks with messages of hope, and leave those throughout the community for people to find. She noted that purple is the color associated with Domestic Violence Awareness month and encouraged people to post any rocks they find on the “Susquehanna Rocks” Facebook page.
Purple ribbons will also be added on Public Avenue in Montrose.
Endless Mountains Heritage Region Executive Director Cain Chamberlin also spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting. He noted multiple grants organizations in the county received from EMHR this year, including $60,000 in partnership grants that went to the Brooklyn Twp. Historical Society toward constructing an overlook area of the Martins Creek Viaduct; as well as grants to Dennis Farm; and the Rail-Trail Council for improvements to the Endless Mountains Trail in Montrose.
For information about other grants awarded to Susquehanna County organizations and projects, visit www.emheritage.org.
Change orders for the Public Safety Building construction project were approved. Hall explained additional water was found and excavation and stabilization of 100 feet was needed to comply with DEP. That change came with a cost of about $4,164, paid from Act 13 funds.
The other change, in the amount of nearly $73,000, was approved for the stripping of topsoil and the access road. It is also being paid for with Act 13 funds. Hall said the area with two inches of topsoil was unexpected.
The commissioners approved another round of small business assistance grants through the CARES County Relief Fund, which is being administered by Trehab. In this round of funding, just under $44,000 was allocated to local businesses impacted by the pandemic.
The county entered into a three-year agreement with the Central Bradford Progress Authority to provide economic development services, at a cost of $124,950 per year. The Progress Authority has been managing the county’s day-to-day economic development activities for over 15 years.
The following people were appointed to the Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission advisory committee;
Economic development: John Kamenn, Chris Brown, Bobbi Jo Turner;
Local loan review: Joe Ferretti, Rick Soden, Keith Yurgosky;
Rural Transportation: Jack Conroy, Alex Komar, Alan Hall;
Executive Committee: Elizabeth Arnold, Alan Hall, Judith Herschel, Rick Soden;
All three commissioners sit on the local elected officials committee.