Potter commissioners award Maple View renovation bid

Members of the Potter County Board of Commissioners made a number of far-reaching decisions during the final business meeting of their term on Thursday.

Commissioners Ken Wingo, Cathy Bowers and John Torok will convene one more time, at 11 am Thursday, Dec. 27, to formally adopt the county's 2008 operating budget.

On Thursday, they awarded a contract for nearly $300,000 to Hamilton Construction Inc. of Ulysses to renovate a county-owned building at the Maple View lot.

The former mental health/ mental retardation group home will become headquarters for the county's Department of Emergency Services (DES) after renovations are completed. John Hetrick, 9-1-1 deployment coordinator, reviewed the bids and recommended selection of Hamilton Construction.

In other business, the commissioners chose lowbidder Northwest Savings Bank for a tax anticipation note of up to $900,000. The money will be drawn as needed to cover the county's operating expenses until tax revenue begins flowing in.

Northwest offered an annual interest rate of 3.97 percent. Other bidders were First Citizens National Bank, Citizens Trust Company and First National Bank of Port Allegany.

John McLaughlin was appointed to the Potter County Planning Commission, succeeding Bill Hunter, whose term expires at the end of the year.

The commissioners also accepted the Potter County Farmland Preservation Board recommendation that members Larry Hamilton, Bill Grandin and Alan Acker be reappointed to the board for three-year terms.

Alyce Reese was reappointed to the Aging Advisory Council. Deb Hamilton was named to Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Advisory Board, succeeding Darlene Abbey, who resigned.

Commissioners Wingo, Bowers and Torok also convened, along with County Treasurer Krista Miller, as the salary board and deadlocked on two issues.

Hetrick had recommended salary increases for two DES employees, Jim Steiner and Kevin Gledhill. Wingo and Torok supported the raises, but Bowers and Miller insisted that the matter should be resolved by the incoming commissioners.

Doug Morley, Paul Heimel and Susan Kefover will be sworn-in to begin a four-year term on Monday, Jan. 7.