Clinton County Commissioner Candidates Answer Questions: Jeff Snyder

The candidates respond:

The Record/therecord-online recently submitted a series of questions to the five candidates who will be on the May 16 ballot for Clinton County Commissioner. Four of the candidates chose to respond. We thank them for their responses and hope their answers help you make an informed decision when you vote on Tuesday. Their answers may be found at therecord-online.

Jeff Snyder (R)

Please tell us something of yourself and your reasons for seeking election:

As a life-long resident, I love Clinton County and all it has to offer.  My wife and I raised our family here. We want to see our grandchildren and other families grow up here, work here and raise their families here.

I am running for re-election to continue to serve the County as a full-time Commissioner who works hard to make a positive difference and “Get Things Done” for the benefit of Clinton County citizens. I have a proven record of solid leadership and reliable public service you can trust. I am a great problem solver and willing to work with anyone who is willing to work with me for the betterment of Clinton County.  I will continue to provide common sense and fiscally sound solutions to improve Clinton County services.

Bechtel Corporation (Renovo Energy Center) recently ended its quest for a natural gas to electricity plant in Renovo. What can county government do to find a meaningful employer for the proposed site?

1. A) Before the Renovo site can be promoted and marketed to new potential developers and businesses, the brownfield needs to be assessed to determine what pollutants and hazardous substances are present and a plan developed to clean up and remediate the site.
2. B) The County can help research the availability of federal Superfund monies and PA State Environmental grants to help fund a cleanup project.
3. C) We all need to put pressure on the environmental groups that were opposed to the electric plant and enlist them in helping clean up the brownfield. These groups seem to have an endless supply of funds to fight a project, so would be wonderful to see them spend time, effort and energy in a project that would decontaminate the site and benefit Renovo.
4. D) Western Clinton County municipal governments and residents need to join forces to identify businesses, manufacturers, and industries they could agree to support coming to the area.

A group calling itself Operation Cleanup in Renovo wants community support for its effort. Should county government play any role in that effort?

I believe the County works best working through the Clinton County Economic Partnership and the Community Trades Association on Renovo projects. As a Commissioner, I am always prepared to support any project that supports jobs and growth in Clinton County. Community support and buy in will be vital to organize and unite the community to work towards a successful solution to remediating the brownfield and attracting new development.

Belles Springs golf course has been a successful enterprise run by the County Recreation Authority. Might the county and its taxpayers be better served if the course were converted to private enterprise and a return to the tax rolls? Why or why not?

This is not a County issue. Belles Springs was property purchased from Land and Water Conservation grant Funds (LWCF). Any property purchased with LWCF shall be retained for public outdoor recreation. Any property so acquired or developed shall not be wholly or partly converted to other than public outdoor recreation uses without the approval of the NPS Regional Director pursuant to Section 6(f)(3) of the L&WCF Act and 36 CFR Part 59. The Director has the authority to disapprove conversion requests and/or to reject proposed property substitutions.

A Centre County entrepreneur wants to locate a hydrogen producing plant in West Keating Township. The Clean Air Council has already raised concerns about the proposal. Should this plant be encouraged or discouraged by county government?

Yes, this hydrogen producing plant should be encouraged. The biggest issue is the length of time it takes for the Federal Court to schedule and hear the case. Something needs to be done to shorten that timeframe. We need to continue to support any effort to bring jobs and growth to the County.

Clinton County has operated under the same form of government since the Civil War era. Might the time be at hand to look at some kind of home rule reform to modernize the system? Or are you satisfied with the set-up at present?

There are 67 Counties in the Commonwealth of which only 8 are governed by home rule.  Those 8 counties, whose populations far exceed ours and have more paid officials, are:

• Allegheny County: population 1,250,578; 1 paid County Executive, and 16 paid Council members;
• Delaware County: population576,830; 1 paid Executive Director, and 5 paid Council members;
• Erie County: population 270,876; 1 paid County Executive, and 8 paid Council members;
• Lackawanna County: population 215,896; 3 paid County Commissioners;
• Lehigh County; population 374,557; 1 paid County Executive, and 8 paid County Commissioners;
• Luzerne County; population 325,594; 1 paid Council Manager, and 9 Council members;
• Northampton County; population 312,951; 1 paid County Executive and 7 paid Commissioners;
• Philadelphia County; population 1,603,797; a Mayor, 3 Commissioners,17 Council members, and a Managing director.

That leaves 88% of the remaining counties with the 3 Commissioner style of Government that we have here in Clinton County. I think as long as you have people electing candidates who are running for the right reasons, “to make Clinton County a better place for all to live, work, raise a family and recreate,” that our form of Government is working just fine.

How would you rate county government’s working relationship with its elected state representatives, Rep. Stephanie Borowicz and state Sen. Cris Dush? Is the dialogue adequate to the needs of county residents?

Representative Borowicz or someone from her office has always answered or returned a phone call or email response to me in a timely manner. Stephanie has provided her cell phone number to me which makes it very easy for me to contact her whenever I need her assistance.

Senator Dush and his staff are also readily available to me and have been very helpful with many issues that have affected our County.

Will you take a “no tax increase” pledge for the next four years if elected? If you do, how do you see the county surviving fiscally in this inflation-ridden era?

No one likes to raise taxes. I have worked very hard to bring in budgets with zero tax increases and still provide services to the residents of Clinton County that they need and appreciate. Each year it becomes harder and harder as the state and federal government cut the areas of support that they are legally bound to fund and then leave Counties holding the bag to make up the difference and fund.

We have become a training ground for employees as they learn job skills to provide services in the county and then leave for jobs at the State, Federal, and even private sector for salaries thousands of dollars higher.

I will continue to do as I have always done, treat every dollar as if it were mine and do everything I can fiscally do to keep from having a tax increase.

Lock Haven University is half its former size. The Keystone Central School District is more than half its former size. Lock Haven has lost it hospital. Renovo recently lost its best economic hope with the end of the REC project planning. The county is shrinking and aging, population-wise. How do you see your role as a commissioner in changing this discouraging trend? Be specific as possible.

When I served as President of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP) I discovered that many other PA counties are struggling with similar issues.  We continue to network and share information and ideas to help us address the issues of shrinking and aging populations, the lack of and need for skilled workers, education geared to prepare students for jobs, re-educating adult workers, and attracting new businesses, industries, and manufacturing plants to our counties. Solutions will take time and planning.

We need to identify ways we can improve rural health care and, since UPMC has downsized its services, we need to help recruit, train and provide financial support our EMTS and ambulance/transport organizations. We need to investigate ways to expand broad band access to enable doctor visits online.  We may need to forge new partnerships in the medical field.

The county should encourage area schools and the university to work together to identify the skills sets required by local business and industry to fill local jobs for which employers cannot currently find workers.  In addition to college prep courses schools need to offer and promote more vocational and apprentice training for good paying service jobs such as electricians, plumbers, nurses’ aides, mechanics, carpet installers and more. We also need to actively re-train older workers with new skills.

The Economic Partnership is working hard to attract new industries and jobs to the area that will pay good wages so young people can stay here, work here, and raise families here. The Tourism and Recreation Board is bringing in tourists to enjoy our parks, trails and abundant outdoor activities which create jobs.