(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Though it was nice and sunny outside, the vibes were less so inside the Beaver County Courthouse on Wednesday.

Things started off decently enough with an update from Tim Ishman regarding the County’s celebration of Earth Day, following Ishman was a very defensive District Attorney David Lozier. The reason for DA Lozier’s defensiveness was that he was addressing a recent rumor that the County was considering dropping the number of detectives in the county from a possible 8 (7 are currently employed) to possibly 6 or fewer detectives.

Lozier was staunch in defending his detective unit’s place in keeping the public safe–particularly from the public themselves:

[table id=70 /]

Then Cory Trautman–who is the representative of Susquehanna Consulting and working with the County on their budget (having done so since the firing of Ricardo Luckow in 2018)–gave an update on the current financial status in the county. Trautman said that the budget was in decent health, but still needed work:

 

But one part of the released numbers didn’t sit well with Hopewell resident Carl Hughes, who felt that the county’s financial situation will push residents away:

 

And lastly, the debate over the future of Beaver County’s K9 unit dogs continued, with Sheriff Tony Guy and several members of the Sheriff’s Department having a back and forth with Commissioner Sandie Egley about the issue. One such example of the dialogue featured Commissioner Egley still feeling like the details were unclear:

 

Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp said that he’d like to have the final decision on the addition of a K9 unit, whether leased or bought, by the May 9 public meeting.

Assistant County Solicitor Nathan Morgan was absent from this April 24 work session.