SCTOA discusses budget, revitalization, energy at annual meeting

By Lauren Royce, Editor

NEW MILFORD — Officials representing townships of the second class in Susquehanna County convened the morning of Oct. 16 for their 112th Annual County Convention at the Susquehanna County Public Safety Building. The Susquehanna County Township Officials Association (SCTOA) convention welcomed many local businesses from the finance, agriculture and energy sectors of the region and hosted reports from federal, state and county officials as well as county office personnel.

Mark Grochocki from State Sen. Lisa Baker’s (R-PA) office said a few words on the state’s budget, a matter which already was of concern to many Pennsylvanians before the government shutdown. He thanked SCTOA Secretary Cheryl Wellman for the invitation before passing the mic. Then, State Rep. Jonathan Fritz, who represents the 111th District in Pennsylvania spoke about budget frustrations and his commitment to keeping rural values in Harrisburg.

“The budget is 110 days overdue, and I’m going to call it the way I see it, the way I feel it,” Fritz said. “Republicans have tried now four times, four times, to pass a stop-gap budget. And whenever there’s an impasse like this, this is a common method to move forward. All we do is we extend last year’s budget into present times. Everybody gets the same money they got last year to start. And once we finish up the budget, once those negotiations are concluded, then they will realize those additional monies.”

After that, money will be allowed to flow back to schools, nonprofits, county governments and others, he said. Fritz touched on other topics. He said while he thought artificial intelligence was something the nation and Pennsylvania could get ahead on, that didn’t mean data centers had to be moved into residential areas. “AI can’t replace your job. AI can’t replace a township supervisor,” he said. 

Susquehanna County Commissioners Alan Hall, Dave Darrow and Bob McNamara shared their reflections of progress in the county despite the budget gridlock.

“This is a good opportunity to get some updates on what’s going on, especially in the county as well as other areas, other townships,” Hall said. “We are facing the budget crisis already, our grants that we normally receive in July have been postponed. Those grants help fund our legacy department, right now DCED (PA Department of Community & Economic Development) is telling me that because

of the lateness they may just skip them this year and go to next year. For a small county like ours, it’s between a quarter and a half million dollars.”

Hall said while other counties had already started borrowing money, Susquehanna County had not. “We’re in good shape, we’ve got it under control. We’re still providing all the services,” Hall said. “I can remember a couple years we didn’t get the budget until January.” If funding was lost and didn’t get returned, that would create problems for next year’s budget. “We’re about $41.8 million for next year, it takes a lot of money to run this county,” Hall said. But there will be no tax raises. Hall also highlighted the recent renovation of the Susquehanna County Courthouse steps.

McNamara said he was looking forward to retiring, but that he enjoyed doing his work with Hall and Darrow. He also praised the office staff at the courthouse and all their work handling money coming into the county. Darrow said the county had applied for grants to fix the many bridges in the county, and jokingly offered them up to the public because there are about 40 to be done.

Around 10 a.m. it was time for a demonstration by PPL Electric outside, in bright sun and biting wind. 

“Electricity wants to go to ground, and it will get there any way it can, even through us,” said demonstrators Louis and Ryan. “If you take anything from our presentation today, know that there’s absolutely nothing you have in your possession that can allow you to go up and move or touch any line that is on the ground.”

On poles and transformers, there are 10-digit grid numbers that PPL needs in order to identify where a downed line is. “We ask that you get to the safest transformer or pole and give us that number,” the demonstrators said, or call 911 to get to them. “N” is on the numbers for northern region poles and “S” is on southern poles. Poles that say “attached” are not PPL’s poles, but the grid numbers will still take PPL to the scene.

Louis and Ryan explained everything on the demo trailer as various items were electrocuted. A squirrel, a hotdog, a balloon, and even a leather glove. The leather gloves worn by professionals cannot have even the smallest hole in them, or the wearer could be grounded out.

Another lesser known fact they explained is that when in a vehicle and a downed line has fallen on you, you stay in the vehicle. But if the car catches fire, you have to crawl to the back of your vehicle or whatever is farthest from the line. If wearing heels: discard them before exiting the vehicle. Then you can open the door, go up into the doorframe, cross your arms and jump out without touching the car door. From there, you have to shuffle your feet without lifting them up to avoid grounding out. Louis and Ryan said you can also bunnyhop, but either way you have to go heel-toe to the next telephone pole.

After a hotdog and burgers lunch at noon, presentations continued on hazard mitigation and radio tower upgrades. Department of Public Safety Systems Manager Ryan Tator presented upcoming changes and upgrades with the 2025 radio project. “Susquehanna County has entered into a system upgrade of our current system,” Tator said. “We’ve taken our old system, it’s about 20 years old, it’s about as far as we can take it.” For the past five years, county commissioners have invested over $12 million in the radio project to build new towers allowing more coverage, Tator said. Security has been upgraded and battery backup has been applied to the new system as well. But too many emergency services are sharing frequencies, he said, which is another challenge of the current system.

“Today, if our system were to go down, we would have two radios turned on,” Tator said, “and that would be all we have for Susquehanna County so we’re trying to build in a level of redundancy.”

Susquehanna County Sherriff Lance Benedict was also honored for his years of service with an award presented by Thompson Township Supervisor Alex Komar. Detective John Oliver will take Benedict’s place after he steps down at the end of the year.

Jerry Ozog, Public Safety Specialist with Pennsylvania State Association of Town Supervisors (PSATS) talked about association programs and services for townships. The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors represents the commonwealth’s 1,453 townships of the second class, 27 of which are located in Susquehanna County.

“You learn from other townships on how to handle difficult things, and how to do something different,” Ozog said. PSATS also helps townships stay up to date on what happens with state rules and regulations, he said. The PSATS website includes education and training resources, regional forums and more. 

The main program adjourned and the SCTOA business meeting took place. Komar and a few other members concluded that next year’s SCTOA convention would be held at the same time and place. It was decided a new scholarship committee would form from SCTOA.