Residents to vote on merger of East Keating, Noyes Townships

By Christopher Miller

EAST KEATING TOWNSHIP, PA – East Keating and Noyes Township residents will have a special question on their November ballots asking for the approval of a merger of the two townships.

Historically, East Keating Township was founded in January 1875: 149 years ago from a division of the original Keating Township into East and West. Ironically, it all started with an election question as well.

The news story in Renovo Record started with “…an election is to be held in that township on the 19th of January, 1875…” and then it began to mention and lay out the proposed division lines at specific places on the West Branch, specific land tracts, and county lines.

Current East Keating Township Supervisors George and Craig Stimpson feel “okay” with the merger, citing the dwindling population of the township, and the recent retirement of the former 40-year Secretary/Treasurer Peg Miller.

According to the 2020 census, East Keating boasts nine residents, second only to “Pennsylvania’s smallest municipality” in terms of population, Centralia, though estimates from the Stimpson’s are around 17 though not all are full-time, voting residents.

If the voters in November vote in favor of the merger, Noyes Township will grow by an additional 51.4 square miles, an increase of more than 50%.

With East Keating’s eight or so voting-aged residents, coupled with Noyes Township’s 120 or so voting-aged residents, approximately 130 people will be voting for the fate of East Keating Township.

“We will need 60% of the votes to be in favor of a merger for it to happen,” Noyes and East Keating Township Secretary/Treasurer Tracy Shady said. “The village will still be in the Keating name, but the maps will not list the territory as Noyes Township.

Supervisor Craig Stimpson chimed in to say that, “they can’t take away the boundaries and erase the line, but on modern maps it will just look like there are two Noyes Townships.”

While residents are still seven months away from the November general election, the renamed, merged, township will not take place overnight.

“It will stay East Keating Township until January 1,” Shady said. “Then it will be considered Noyes if the voters vote in favor of the merger.”

While January 1, 2025 will technically be 18 days shy of the official 150th birthday of East Keating Township, residents should be proud to know that their township just about reached its sesquicentennial.

“I think it’s a historic moment,” said county historian Lou Bernard. “Most of the townships have been the same since the 1800s. This is a big change to Clinton County’s geography, taking us from twenty-one townships to twenty. It’s a huge moment in our history. I also have to wonder if the name of West Keating is (eventually) going to change once East Keating is eliminated.”

Though the question of “by how much will taxes rise” for East Keating Township residents once they are part of Noyes Township has come up, those questions and more will be answered in the coming months at Noyes Township meetings and the remaining East Keating Township meetings.

East Keating Township meetings are held on the last Friday of the month at 7 PM at 19891 Renovo in Westport in the gray shed with black doors facing route 120.

The next Noyes Township meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 14 at 11 AM at 212 Tamarack Road above Drury’s Run.

The Record will continue to follow this story as it develops.