Thursday has been declared Hagen Kearney Day in Bradford.
Mayor Tom Riel issued a proclamation at Tuesday’s Bradford City Council meeting honoring the snowboarder who has Bradford ties and will appear in the Winter Olympic Games on Thursday, in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Having lived in Bradford for about eight years, Kearney, 26, is the great-grandson of Zippo founder George Blaisdell. Riel said Kearny considers himself a Bradford native.
Kearney is part of the four-man snowboardcross team that qualified for the Olympics from select World Cups this past season.
Riel said he is hoping that the snowboarder will receive a gold medal.
“We should all wish him well,” Riel said.
Kearney has competed in three Winter X Games and has been with U.S. Ski & Snowboard for two years. Kearney began snowboarding at 9 years old. His hobbies include skateboarding, playing guitar, riding motorcycles and mountain biking.
Also, city council approved an ordinance for the issuance of a general obligation note totaling $300,000 to be used in the construction of new homes in the Second Ward Neighborhood. One home is under construction on Elm Street, and two others are planned on Congress Place.
The city’s Office of Economic and Community Development Executive Director Sara Andrews said the borrowing is temporary. The loan will be repaid with money from home sales, she said.
Council also approved advertising for bid contracted services for the Second Ward Neighborhood Streetscape improvement project. The work will be paid for with Community Development Block Grant and Keystone Communities grant funds.
Also at the meeting, council approved filing a redevelopment assistance capital program grant application to the Pennsylvania Office of the Budget for the Bradford YWCA building improvement project.
Officials at YWCA Bradford on West Corydon Street are planning to repurpose and expand the former Second Ward School on Congress Street in Bradford to serve as its new, larger home.
The new campus will condense all of the YW’s operations onto a single campus, with expansion plans to include space for a 16-bed homeless shelter as well as a 16-bed domestic violence shelter. The repurposed building will have a front entrance facing South Avenue and access from Elm Street and Tibbits Avenue. The facility will also include a food pantry.
In other business, city council:
• Approved a $34,487.95 to Portville Truck and Auto Repair Inc. for repairs to refuse packers.
• Approved lease agreements with Community Links and Forged Spirit for space at the Robert P. Habgood Jr. Business Development Center.
• Approved $1,301.06 to the McKean County Commissioners for 2018 city tax statements and supplies.
