COUDERSPORT — Potter County Commissioners reported on the recent Denton Hill master plan meeting, expenditure of grant funding for upgrades to 911 infrastructure, and efforts to direct more state and federal funding into criminal justice reform initiatives during a regular meeting held Thursday in Coudersport.
Commissioner Susan Kefover attended Wednesday night’s meeting at the Denton Hill Ski Lodge and reported that almost every agency working on regional promotion was in attendance at the session to hear plans for renovation and reopening of the park and its skiing operations.
“They are beautiful plans. They are looking into adding aerial games — ziplines and bridges — expanding tubing. They really want to make this park a regional attraction to connect everything,” said Kefover. “Within the next 60 days, (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) will put out a request for proposals, and they have spoken with several competent concessionaires who could do a good job of running Denton.”
The project, which will renovate the ski lodge, maintenance building, lifts, slopes, snow-making equipment, electrical and water systems and a number of other aspects of the skiing operations at the park, is expected to cost upward of $18 million, with $12 million in funding available now.
In other business, Commissioner Doug Morley noted a $379,000 payment from the 911 fund for purchases of equipment necessary to complete extensive upgrades to the 911 system. A $500,000 grant was received by the county through the efforts of AMP Global Strategies, which partners with the Department of Emergency Services to provide equipment maintenance and other support.
“This won’t fix everything, but it will be pieces and parts of the whole that is forthcoming and needs to be completed,” said Morley. “This grant will support the preliminary build-out and upgrades to enhance what we currently have, but the equipment will also work with the new equipment we plan to buy in the future.”
The total cost to upgrade the county’s 911 system is estimated to cost $3.5 million.
Commissioner Paul Heimel will soon be part of a meeting with representatives of the White House, Justice Department and several foundations, including Pew Charitable Trusts and the Arnold Foundation, to push for more state and federal funding to be devoted to implementing criminal justice reform initiatives being proven as best practices across the country.
“The things going on here in Potter County and other communities require significant financial outlay. Fortunately, Pennsylvania has been very supportive, but funding comes from the federal governments to the states, and then is disbursed. The federal government has so far been supportive of the reforms, which have had mostly bipartisan support, and some see it as a priority and are organizing this meeting,” stated Heimel. “Even if the federal government can’t agree on what to fund, these foundations may see the need or the merit to support some of these moves.”
Heimel serves on the National Association of Counties (NACo) Justice and Public Safety Committee and was recently re-appointed to the Courts & Corrections subcommittee.
“There will be a return on investment, in the long run, for these programs, but we need funding up front to implement them,” Heimel stated.
The following appointments were made to the Local Emergency Planning Committee: Thomas Shaw, Tony Cochran, William Smith, Christopher Kloc, Joseph Gray, Andrew DuBots and Justin Boatwright.
Kelly Murray was approved to serve as the Trailblazer program supervisor, effective June 4. The Trailblazer program runs through the summer for approximately two months.
The next meeting of the Potter County Commissioners will be held at 11 a.m. on June 7 at the Gunzburger Building in Coudersport.
