Blair County commissioners approve consent agenda, grants, contracts and collective bargaining agreement

The Blair County Board of Commissioners met Feb. 26 and approved a broad slate of routine and programmatic actions, including consent items, several contract awards for a parking garage rehabilitation project, grant monitoring and closeout reports, a collective bargaining agreement and a boost to a home repair assistance cap.

The board approved resolution 84-20-26 ratifying 11 warrants and a payroll listing (the agenda cited $974,421.14 and the clerk noted a date correction was needed). Commissioners also approved eight budget transfers covering special election expenses, repairs to 9-1-1 gates, tax-collector bond premiums, legal fees and staff travel for a Tyler Connect conference.

County staff requested ratification of a contract with Smith Myers Electronics Inc. to add telemetry and signal work to five door systems at the Blair County Prison; the board moved and approved the ratification. For the Blair County parking garage rehabilitation project the board approved awarding the general contract to Carl Walker Construction, the plumbing contract to Montgomery Brothers Plumbing and the electrical contract to MH Electric LLC after motions, seconds and recorded 'aye' votes.

Court administration received approval to file an Administrative Office of the Courts grant application for reimbursable language-access interpreter costs for 2025 in the amount of $25,801.91. Grants staff also presented monitoring activity progress reports for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) contracts (including FFY 2021 contract 82572, which had a small unexpended balance of about $6,900, and the FFY 2023 contract) and approved required closeout reporting for a HOME Investment Partnerships contract (84484).

The board ratified a collective bargaining agreement between Blair County and SEIU Local 6168 covering Jan. 1, 2026–Dec. 31, 2028, and the chair publicly thanked county HR staff for handling bargaining.

The board approved a request to raise the maximum per-household award under the Code Compliance Repair Assistance Program from $5,000 to $7,500, after staff said repair bids are now commonly exceeding the previous cap and last year the program helped about 12 households using a mix of funds and local match money.

Laird Senior Services secured approval to accept fiscal-year transportation allocations (MATP) for FY24–25 and FY25–26 from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. The board also ratified a consulting agreement with Samaritan Fund Program LLC to advise on insurance-market alternatives and charitable assistance for county employees with high prescription costs.

Other approved items included county assistance agreements with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for inmate transportation and for technical assistance reviewing Blair County Prison construction and operations, and an MOU with Bedford County Department of Emergency Services to provide telecommunicator training. The meeting adjourned with the next session set for March 5, 2026, at 10 a.m.

Votes at a glance: Consent agenda (approved); Smith Myers Electronics contract ratified (approved); Parking garage rehabilitation — general (awarded to Carl Walker Construction), plumbing (Montgomery Brothers Plumbing), electrical (MH Electric LLC) (each approved); Court interpreter grant application (approved); SEIU collective bargaining agreement (approved); Code compliance award cap increase to $7,500 (approved); CDBG and HOME monitoring/closeouts and submissions (approved); MATP allocations accepted (approved); Samaritan Fund consulting agreement ratified (approved); DOC assistance and technical review agreements (approved); Bedford County MOU for telecommunicator training (approved).