kstephens@altoonamirror.com
HOLLIDAYSBURG Efforts to write Blair County’s first compensation policy have stretched over six meetings as of Thursday, with no action yet scheduled on salary study recommendations for non-union employees.
The salary board, comprised of Commissioners Bruce Erb, Laura Burke, Amy Webster and Controller A.C. Stickel, has been convening special meetings almost weekly since Feb. 18. That’s when the board backed away from addressing non-union pay changes
recommended in the salary study, pending development of a
compensation policy.
The policy, when finished, is expected to address matters such as how the county determines starting pay, pay ranges, raises and changes in pay due to job changes.
HOLLIDAYSBURG Blair County commissioners have fired the public works director without explanation. Rocky Greenland, who held the job since 2015 and played
bkibler@altoonamirror.com
At a City Council meeting Monday, the president of the city firefighters’ union questioned the city’s decision not to apply for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act money from Blair County given that Logan Township applied for the funding and received $622,000.
The city didn’t apply because it’s getting reimbursed for its direct COVID-19 expenses from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and because it wished to defer to AMED and the Central Blair Recreation and Park Commission, which have been damaged financially more than the city by COVID-19, said City Manager Ken Decker.
kstephens@altoonamirror.com
A few historic doorknobs remain on doors on the older side of the Blair County Courthouse. Most were removed last week when new hardware was installed.
HOLLIDAYSBURG In the older portion of the Blair County Courthouse, the large office doors are usually opened by turning a brass doorknob featuring Pennsylvania’s state seal and symbols including a bald eagle, a ship, a plow and three sheaves of wheat.
Last week, however, many of those doorknobs that have been used for 100 years were removed. They’ve been replaced by a brass handle and door plate with a small tracking device.
Penn Highlands Community College $1,030.
While the designated amounts add up to $2.24 million, exceeding the $2.23 million allocation by $8,402, the difference may be covered with money from other CARES grant categories if it becomes available to transfer, County Administrator Nicole Hemminger said. The county is funding up to the amounts listed on the meeting agenda, she said.
Commissioners also acknowledged that applicants in this category were subject to a cap of $1.5 million toward reimbursement of their COVID-19 planning and response expenses. That cap was applied to AMED, which requested more than $1.5 million for reimbursement of COVID-19 response and planning expenses.
Expenses qualifying for reimbursement include personal protective equipment, technology upgrades and workspace partitions, Hemminger said in naming examples acceptable to the state Department of Community and Economic Development.