Samuel Anthony Ettaro   IP: 72.72.229.21 Oct 8, 06 - 1:07 PM | Councilman Mike Errigo Responds Hello everyone, The day after last week's open meeting after which I had a great talk with Mike Errigo and some other local officials, Mike sent me this very encouraging email! Please read his thoughts below on some of the issues near and dear to us all and respond away! Thanks for speaking up Mike! This was posted here with Mike's permission. Samuel ************************************************** Hi Sam, I must admit that after your last visit to the Borough Council meeting, I was not looking forward to seeing you Tuesday night. But, I'm glad you came and I'm glad we had a chance to talk. I hope you get a chance to get to know all of us better and of course us to get to know you. I am really happy with the recent changes to our council. The people who have stepped forward, really care about our community. Most of us are rookies at local government but we are all willing to learn. We don't all agree on every topic, but everyone has Clearfield's best interests in mind. We all want to get through this sewer replacement project as soon as possible. We know we are tearing up almost every street in town, but without rolling the clock back twenty years and starting it then, how else can we do it? We feel we have a good engineering firm helping us, and we are listening to their recommendations. We have at least three representatives at the bi-weekly project meetings with each contractor. We want to be sure that if we have to spend thirty-three million dollars that we are going to get a system that will work correctly and last for many, many years. We will also continue to seek grants to help relieve the taxpapers as much as possible. One of the drawbacks we are fighting is that our sewer rates are not out of line with the rest of the state. Grants are more available to communities whose rates are above the average. Even with the sewer surcharge, Clearfield's rates are not out of line with the remainder of the state. The fire department is another area where we are getting council more involved. I have been an active volunteer fireman for over twenty-five years. The Clearfield Fire Department does things much different than any fire company I have ever been associated. That itself is not necessarily bad, but we are looking closely at why they are different. A peer to peer study was done and paid for by council five years ago. Over thirty recommendations were included in the results of the study. Until recently only one of them was implemented. I vigorously support implementing each of those findings. I am working with council to help other members understand the benefits of those changes. John Williams has done a great job moving the department forward. We are going to miss his leadership. Probably the most comments I heard when I moved to Clearfield seven years ago concerned the Fair Board. Council is looking very closely at the Fair Board and the Boroughs agreements concerning the Driving Park and the Firemen's Industrial Park. I really think Council gave too much freedom to the handling of these two very important pieces of real estate. Council is going to be much more involved in the business affairs of the Fair Board. The fourth area of concern we are getting more involved is the overall look of our community. This council is very concerned about the enforcement of our codes. If we intend to attract more industry to start rebuilding our local economy, then we need to provide an environment that is business friendly. One that has many qualified workers and one that is appealing to company executives. That environment needs to have a good stable infrastructure that is safe for our residents. Code enforcement and law enforement go hand in hand towards creating that desired environment. The borough is in the process of looking deeply into our local goverment. We have applied for a grant to hire an expert firm to look at all areas of our organization to help us answer some of the questions that you and your readers have asked. I know I haven't covered every area of concern of you, your readers, and even this borough council, but I hope it is a start at letting everyone know that we are trying to make a difference. We need to get more of our citizens involved in what we are doing. It takes time and it takes money. We don't have a surplus of either, but we are going to use all that we can make available. I am looking forward to the changes we have started. We have a great community here and we certainly don't want to lose the great attributes we have. We just want to help fix a few things and move forward. Mike |
| B. Smith IP: 4.91.128.186 Oct 12th, 2006 - 6:21 PM |  Re: Councilman Mike Errigo Responds I hope the efforts of council will be sincere and that this is not just lip service meant to "quiet people." That may be blunt, but as you know I do not believe in beating around the bush. If these "intentions" are put into "action" it will certainly be a start. It does bother me that the most important issue our town is facing (drugs and crime) was not addressed. That should take precedence over anything else. It is also my hope that council will be smart enough to fight to keep out places like Discovery House and the RHJ Medical center if they should ever try to enter the borough. It is becoming more and more obvious (by reading accounts from other areas around the country) that these places bring trouble with them and are not “problem solvers” as the owners of these companies claim. This is not YET an issue in the borough and I pray it never becomes one. Again, I do hope this is the beginning of council taking a responsible and attentive role in our community. I know I will be waiting with many others for the results. |
| Samuel Anthony Ettaro IP: 71.162.36.216 Oct 12th, 2006 - 8:53 PM | Re: Councilman Mike Errigo Responds Hi B. I believe Mike. I don't know him well, but we had a really good meeting and I like him and believe that he's being sincere. It will be very interesting to see how this whole thing hashes out over time. We are going to see a more responsive overall local governance in time, this much is true, but it will be a fascinating process to see just where the straight up honest folks fall into that picture. We've put out public requests for information and requested interviews with other local officials and have been denied. Recently, we've been addressing Borough Council directly asking to be put on the agenda at a Council meeting to bring the Sunflower Campaign and the Landfill Summit and educational campaign to the record and ask the Council for their involvement and stance on these initiatives. This request has been issued to the Borough Secretary Pam Peters as well as the Mayor's office and have gone unanswered. Clearly you are concerned over important issues and I urge you to come forth and help us reach the folks in local government and help them come out publicly on these and other very important concerns. Help us bring folks to this cause. Tell your friends about the CI.A. site and by all means, get involved directly and in a straight-up manner. Come to a meeting. Voice your concerns and ideas directly. What is your name, B? That would go a long way to validate your concerns. Mr. Errigo stepped forward and put it out there. I hope you do the same. Thanks for the input. Keep watching the site for some really interesting audio reports! Peace, Samuel |
| B. Smith IP: 4.91.131.69 Oct 15th, 2006 - 9:09 PM | Re: Councilman Mike Errigo Responds I would like to be able to give my full name Samuel. I don't know how long you have lived in Clearfield, but having lived here for a number of years I can tell you, the situation is that the officials in this town tend to scrutinize you and your property more closely if you speak out. It is something that can trickle to your friends, co-workers, and your private life if you live in the borough. We all want to see change, but risking your total well being is not something most people can afford to do simply to put a name to something. All those of us needing to keep our full names private can do is hope that our comments, views, itelligent reasoning and logic will solidify our message. Think of it this way, who really knew the identity of Zorro.  |
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