Down River 3/4

By John Lipez

Tuesday is the Deadline:
If you want to be a player in local government, Tuesday is the deadline to submit your properly filled out petition to get on Pennsylvania’s May 18 municipal primary election ballot.

Feb. 16 was the first day to circulate petitions and March 9 the last. So if you have a mind to run, you best get moving. The municipal election after a presidential election year often is low key and after the exhaustion of the 2020 Trump-Biden brouhaha, this municipal go-round looks to be no exception; I’d go so far as to predict it will be a level below tepid, but you never know.

The Record has yet to see any candidacy announcements hit corporate headquarters in Farwell but that could change by next week.

You may or may not know that two county row offices, treasurer and coroner, will be on the ballot. Incumbents are treasurer Michelle Kunes and coroner Zach Hanna; we’re aware Hanna is seeking a third term and presuming likewise from Kunes.

Beyond those two countywide contests, the primary ballot will see four of the nine Keystone Central School Board seats up for grab, so to speak.

Those districts and their incumbent representatives are Region II (Mill Hall area), represented by Elisabeth Lynch; Region V (Woodward Township area), by board president Tracy Smith; Region VII, (Lock Haven’s fourth and fifth wards) by Roger Elling; and Region IX (Renovo area), by Eric Probert.

We’ve heard nothing about reelection plans from the incumbents in Regions II, V, VII but did pick up word that Region IX, the Renovo area, will be seeing a new board member come the annual board organizational meeting in December of this year. The changeover will be due to a decision from Probert not to seek reelection.

Probert took to social media recently to announce his decision. He also encouraged any civic minded citizens in the Renovo area to step up and run for the school board: “I feel that there are others in Region 9 that surely share the same ideals as myself. It is an exciting time to be a member of a school board that is making a huge impact on the quality of education in our community. Now is the time to get to the county board of elections and get your petition signed and on the ballot for the region 9 seat. It’s a great service to your community.”

He’s right and you should. Public education is a staple of democracy and it is under challenge like never before. You don’t have to look too far to see which area state legislators are not friends of the public schools. There is always room on the Keystone Central board for citizens who value public education and want to join the existing board and superintendent Jacquelyn Martin and be a strong advocate for better public schools.

It was interesting to read board member Probert’s goals and aspirations in coming on board better than three years ago. He wrote:

I decided to run for the KCSD district school board region 9 seat in 2017 with the following goals in mind:.

1. Developing a strong challenging curriculum.
2. Economic stability of KCSD.
There were a ton of changes and decisions that occurred over the past three years that have allowed the district to reach these goals. Not all of them were easy or popular but they were necessary.

The “good ole boys” network that was once a factor in KCSD is dissolved at this point. The current school board and KCSD administration work extremely well together as a team.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to serve our community, but it’s time for me to focus on my own goals.
He closed with an offer to prospective candidates to contact him about the duties of a school board director, should they have an inclination to learn more.

And that Region IX covers a lot of territory: Renovo and South Renovo boroughs and the townships of Leidy, Chapman, East Keating, Noyes, Grugan, Gallagher and Stewardson (the latter up north in Potter County). If you’re thinking about being a positive force for public education in that far-flung region, get moving.

Two Jersey Shore school district regions are also on the May ballot in the applicable eastern Clinton County townships, Region One and Region Two.

Three Lock Haven city council seats are up this year. Incumbents are council vice-president Steve Stevenson and council members Rick Conklin and Barbara Masorti. City treasurer and controller are also on the ballot. Paula Dickey and Sharon Suter are the respective incumbents for those part-time positions.

All Clinton County townships will have one supervisor to be determined, other than Chapman Township. Chapman will have two, one for a 6-year-term, one for a 4-year term; the latter the result of the death last year of longtime supervisor Tim Horner.

There will also be multiple statewide races, one justice for the state supreme court, one for state superior court and two for commonwealth court.

Not happy with the performance of government these days? Here’s your chance to jump in at the grassroots level. But hurry, March 9 is the deadline.