(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

The Beaver County Commissioners heard it all at Wednesday’s work session, regarding budgets, walkways, memorials, taxes, the election–all within the span of just over 30 minutes.

Walkways were the first item brought to attention as Public Works director Dan Colville spoke about a new problem regarding the area near the walkway bridge between the Ice Arena parking lot and the newly renovated outdoor courts. The problem arose from the DPW working on drainage in the area “which used to be all grass,” Colville said. “It’s a muddy mess now,” he added, “and I know this isn’t the time of year for lots of activity there. But if there’s a nice day or two, you’ll probably get some activity there.” Colville suggested to the Commissioners that they could replace the muddy area with a stable concrete surface, with stone gravel as a possible alternative on short notice.

Solicitor Garen Fedeles spoke about the election process the prior week, with a positive message: “For the most part, I’d say everything last Tuesday ran according to plan. There’s always minor hiccups that you’re going to get no matter what…working through 15,000 mail-in ballots and trying to get all those all those open and counted ran us until three in the morning, and we had to come back again the next morning in order to finish those up. But I thank everyone who helped to do that process.”

Fedeles then presented the Commissioners with the 57 resolutions for Thursday’s public meeting: “a vast majority of them are tax exonerations; there’s also a lot of amendments and extensions of current contracts,” he stated. The biggest one on the agenda, though, was Resolution No. 112722-46–which introduces the proposed County budget for the 2023 fiscal year. Financial advisor Corey Troutman was in attendance for the work session, stating that most of the parts to maintain balance for the 2023 budget will be similar to the current budget and that those moves will not affect the County’s ARPA fund allocation (for the time being). The Commissioners will vote on the proposed budget and the other 56 resolutions Thursday morning at 10:00 AM.

The meeting closed with Center Township Police Captain John Hall requesting that the Commissioners approve, on behalf of the Beaver Valley Chiefs of Police, to expand the Police Officer Memorial that was constructed back in 2002 and displayed outside the Beaver County Courthouse. “What we’re asking for from the Commissioners is permission to make some adjustments to the memorial,” Capt. Hall spoke, “so that we can add–we call it a ‘scroll’–what it is is a bronze plaque that puts the names on it. There’s currently one there; ideally we will need to put two more in at some point in the future for a total of three.” Capt. Hall also suggested that there be additional wings for officers who have fallen in the line of duty as well as K-9 officers who have served in Beaver County, once the BVCP has attained enough funding to purchase those additional wings/scrolls. All three Commissioners gave their approval for the additions to the current Police Officer Memorial.

The next Beaver County Commissioners’ work session is scheduled for November 23 at 10:00 AM.