Down River – Oct. 8, 2015

Two Steps Forward…

There definitely are some good things happening in western Clinton County as the folks upriver get set to celebrate another Flaming Foliage Festival.

The borough of Renovo is seeing millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements, primarily because of the work of a newly revitalized Renovo borough council in a newly revitalized community. And residents all over town are joining in the effort to spruce up the town’s appearance.

While visitors to the Renovo area will certainly be able to deal with the minor inconvenience of all those ongoing improvements at points along the festival parade route, they’ll know it’s all for good, part of the program to make the greater Renovo area a better place in which to live and work.

And speaking of work, by this point the entire county knows about the growing possibility of a major industrial project for the old rail yard site on the north side of town. If the project comes to fruition, (while not yet a sure thing, it looks more and more likely with each passing day) substantive jobs will result, including hundreds and hundreds during the extended construction period.

Developers of the proposed Renovo Energy Center will be in Renovo on Tuesday of next week, present at the Western Clinton County Recreation Center to provide an update at what they are calling “an informational open house.” It will be the public’s first chance for a direct dialogue with project developers desirous of placing a gas-fired electric generating facility at the old rail shop site, one capable of producing enough energy to power nearly one million homes.

This is heady stuff being proposed by some big league developers, led by Bechtel Development Company, a worldwide engineering, construction and project management company. And as proposed, this will be far from a pilot project, developers having been involved in more than 10 such projects elsewhere.

Renovo area residents should be in attendance Tuesday to listen and ask questions. From what The Record has learned to this point, the Renovo Energy Center could very well be the springboard to a further rebirth of Renovo, a project coming along none too soon.

See you Tuesday night.

Maybe a Step or Two Back:

That wasn’t good news, word earlier this week that the Bucktail Medical Center had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection so it can continue to provide medical services to the western end of the county.

It has been written here before the Renovo area can ill afford to lose the medical center. The new administration has voiced optimism it can resolve the pressing financial problems confronting the BMC and reports it is making strides in that effort.  The entire Clinton County community hopes that proves to be the case.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Just as a prospective legitimate employer appears on the horizon, the medical center has to file for protection from creditors. We all want to see the BMC keep functioning short-term in anticipation of better days as the community anticipates the Renovo Energy Center becoming a reality.

And yes, we’re sure the energy center folks would like to see the medical center persevere through its difficult times. We suspect too the REC folks might very well share the view of many in the western end of the county that it’s time for regional police protection in the greater Renovo area.

The first step towards that end was discussion of regional police at a recent meeting of the Renovo area Community Trade Association.

Here’s where we are: Renovo has had an on-and-off record in having its own force, presently with a department of two officers. We also know that state police, headquartered at the other end of the county, are stretched fairly thin with demands on Interstate 80 among its responsibilities (and handling all the shoplifters at the Wal-Mart in police-less Bald Eagle Township).

We also know that surrounding communities South Renovo borough and Chapman and Noyes Townships have no local police protection, although there have been inquiries on the matter from South Renovo.

We read with interest Barbara Mastriania’s story on the CTA meeting in last week’s paper. We were dismayed to read the comments from Chapman chairman Tim Horner when he said costs of a regional force would be prohibitive, the population too small.

Let’s do the numbers: 880 residents in Chapman; 1,300 in Renovo; 300 in Noyes; 550 in South Renovo. That adds up to 3,060. (As a point of comparison, Mill Hall, with a population of just over 1,600 has its own force).

So the Renovo area is too small to muster a regional force? Too small to provide protection for the students, teachers and staff members at Bucktail High School and Renovo Elementary School located smack dab in Chapman Township?

Too expensive in a township with a recent natural gas tax windfall? No, it’s not too expensive, not when public safety is at stake.

The potential for putting an end to the decades’-old exodus from western Clinton County is clearly at hand. The Renovo region is on the cusp of some good things happening.

Down River is confident the people in charge of the Bucktail Medical Center can do their part to keep in operation that much needed health care facility; we’re not so confident the western Clinton County community has the wherewithal to set up a needed regional police force, but if ever there was a time to study that possibility, this is it.

Somebody tell chairman Horner to reconsider his view. Western Clinton County will be the better for it if he does.