Blair County commissioners approve routine contracts and social‑services actions as debate over TPA decertification continues

Blair County Commissioners on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, approved a consent agenda that included payroll and warrant payments, prison service contracts and several Social Services program delegations, while one commissioner renewed a push for municipalities to allow the county to proceed with a vote to decertify the county's TPA.

The debate over the TPA arose during commissioners' comments, where one commissioner asked residents to contact their township supervisors and borough council members to vote to permit the commissioners to move to the next step. "Please encourage them to vote in favor of allowing the commissioners to move forward," the commissioner said. The same speaker added that, if municipal approvals reach the required level, a public meeting would be held before the Board of Commissioners took any public vote on decertification.

Why it matters: Commissioners said the issue ties to the county's long‑term development strategy. One commissioner said Blair County has missed out on large grants in recent years, saying, "we lost out in $7,200,000 in an AMBLR grant because we didn't have capacity or sustainability," and later adding, "I think there's another $13,000,000, I think, that, is out there." The commissioner framed the effort as an attempt to increase the county's capacity to pursue state and federal funding, while noting population decline in the county.

Actions taken at the Feb. 13 meeting

Votes at a glance - Consent agenda (resolution 42 20 25, sections a–h): Approved. The consent agenda included payments on the warrant lists, ratification of the warrant lists, ratification of payroll for the paycheck dated 02/07/2025 in the amount of $893,214.49, 2025 budget transfers, appointments to the Blair County Convention and Sports Facilities Authorities (section e), and appointments to the Blair County Planning Commission advisory boards (section f), plus employments and status changes. A recorded comment during the vote noted one commissioner registered an abstention on the payment to Hollidaysburg Borough and a "nay" on item e. The board otherwise voted in favor.

- Agreement: Blair County Prison and Overhead Door Company of Blair County, Inc., to service garage doors and operators at the prison: Approved. The warden said the company installed recent gates and has previously serviced an older garage door; the sally port and sliding gate remain under warranty but the company performed recent service.

- Bids: Milk products for Blair County Prison (multi‑year bid): Approved to accept bids and to award or reject per county code. Prison staff said the milk contract will be five years.

- Bids: Food and non‑food items for Blair County Prison: Approved to accept bids and to award or reject per county code.

- Social Services: Allow the Blair County Department of Social Services to directly submit Affordable Housing Trust Fund code‑compliance repair assistance projects to the Board of Commissioners for approval: Approved. Staff said the change is intended to avoid multi‑month delays caused when projects wait for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund board, which meets quarterly.

- Social Services: Allow the Department of Social Services to directly submit Affordable Housing Trust Fund demolition projects to the Board of Commissioners for approval: Approved.

- Opioid Settlement: Approve a Request for Proposals for the Blair County Opioid Settlement Trust Fund to be open for 30 days from the date of posting: Approved. Staff said the advertisement would run beginning the following Tuesday (after the meeting's holiday scheduling consideration) so the website posting and the ad would align.

Meeting discussion and context Commissioners prefaced routine business with several public‑facing remarks. One commissioner described attending a roundtable with the lieutenant governor and the Pennsylvania second lady at a Sheetz corporate site on affordable child care and called attention to workforce retention issues among childcare providers. "We are fortunate here in Blair County to have a number of high quality daycare centers. However, a lot of people cannot afford them," the commissioner said.

On the TPA matter, the commissioner who pressed municipal outreach described prior meetings with local stakeholders as unfruitful and characterized the matter as part of a broader vision to grow county capacity and tax base. The commissioner said a municipal approval would not itself decertify the TPA; rather, municipal votes would permit the county to move to the next step and, if the threshold is met, "by law, we have to do that after the vote" and hold a public meeting before a public commissioners' vote.

Prison items Prison staff asked for approval of a purchase agreement under the county's bidding threshold with the Overhead Door Company of Blair County, Inc., to service three entry systems at the Blair County Prison: an older garage door serving the laundry building, a sliding electronic gate that leads to the laundry garage door, and the sally port. The warden said the sally port and sliding gate remain under warranty but the company has been used for recent service; staff said the gates are used a "couple hundred" times per day, and the county is seeking a second quote as a backup.

Procurement staff presented bids for milk and for food/nonfood supplies for the prison. The milk contract was described as a five‑year arrangement; a prior local legislator, "Representative Schmidt," was mentioned as having introduced a bill in the last session to exempt counties from bidding milk, and the speaker said that legislator planned to reintroduce the bill.

Social Services items A Social Services representative requested the board allow the department to bring Affordable Housing Trust Fund code‑compliance repairs and demolition projects directly to the Board of Commissioners for approval, saying the trust fund board meets quarterly and that the direct submittal would reduce delays on code issues that can increase fines. The board approved both delegations for consistency and timeliness.

Process and next steps No formal vote on decertifying the TPA occurred at the Feb. 13 meeting. Commissioners said they have sent requests to municipalities asking them to vote to allow the county to proceed; if municipal approvals reach the threshold described by a commissioner, the county will hold a public meeting to gather comment before a public vote by the Board of Commissioners. The board set its next regular meeting for Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, at 10 a.m.

Quotes attributed in this report are taken verbatim from the meeting transcript and are attributed to speakers using the generic labels below because the transcript did not supply full personal names for those speakers.