Council hears update on ethanol plant

Clearfield Borough Council held a brief meeting last night and Code Enforcement Officer Larry Mack gave an update on the ethanol plant. He said the company is dropping the scale of production to 80 percent temporarily in order to give the company time to unload some of the ethanol.

He said permits were needed for the rail cars, which the ethanol plant just received, and things should be back to normal soon. "It's only temporary; they hope to have this corrected by the end of next week," he said.

Also, Mack addressed a concern with noise from the ethanol plant. He said that the workers had to drop the water pressure in the boilers and when that happened the release of steam resulted in an extremely loud sound that startled residents. He said the company has ordered a muffler system for the pipe in the event that has to be done again.

Council also heard from Police Chief Jeff Rhone concerning a news release he gave to the press concerning parking in the borough. He said there has been an increasing problem with vehicles blocking alleys and parking spaces and the police are going to begin cracking down on these violators.

Engineer Todd Banks of Stiffler, McGraw and Associates Inc. of Hollidaysburg requested a change order of $5,000-$6,000 for the sidewalk project in order to utilize the rest of the grant funds. The contractor on the project is St. Marys Paving and the bid came in low enough that Banks was able to add additional sidewalks to the project.

In other business:
Council approved four motions from the public safety committee: Advertising for bids for a 2010 Ford Crown Victoria for the police department, approving a letter to the fire department regarding 180 day notification if a decision would be made involving a property change at Third Ward Hose Co., sending an approved letter to Clearfield County Emergency Management regarding dispatching of the aerial truck and posting a handicapped parking space at 1214 Dorey St.

The following for the public works committee was approved: Awarding the bid for gasoline to JJ Powell Inc.; awarding the bid for the sale of the Ford Explorer to Mr. Welker for $355; and donating a box salt spreader to the Clearfield County Fair and Park Board.

Council approved the audit of the Growing Greener II money received for Third Street and also the audit for the communities grant.

The following appointments were approved:
Patricia Quick to the hospital authority, Linda Lewis to the zoning hearing board and Christopher Stott to the zoning hearing board as an alternate.

The question was raised as to whether Quick's appointment would be affected by the hospital's bylaws. Solicitor F. Cortez "Chip" Bell III said he would investigate but advised council to proceed with the appointment.

Council approved sending new council member Patricia Kavelack to a new borough council member training event to be held at Duncansville. The training is sponsored by the Pennsylvanian State Boroughs Association and will cost $150.

Several council members attended the town meeting held by the Clearfield Revitalization Corp. on Wednesday. Borough Operations Manager Leslie Stott said she counted at least 13 business owners present who would be affected by the façade plan.

Council encouraged local business owners and merchants to attend the workshop being held Feb. 3 at the Clearfield Presbyterian Church's Westminster Hall from 5-7 p.m.

Council members were also encouraged to attend the Webinar "The Many Roles of the Code Official" on Tuesday from 12-1:30 in Mack's office.

source:theprogressnews