Oil City Council Passes Resolution Opposing Polk Closing

| September 13, 2019


OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) – The Oil City Council passed a resolution opposing the closing of Polk State Center at its meeting on Thursday.

“(The closing) will have a negative economic impact on Oil City,” City Manager Mark Schroyer said while noting that is believed that over 25 percent of Polk Center employees live in Oil City.

Councilman Ron Gustafson concurred on the economic impact and also said the closing impacts the residents.

“There is a need for these facilities,” Gustafson said. “This resolution is the least we can do.”

Schroyer said the whole process of how the closing was announced makes one wonder if it’s a done deal.

“But, we should take a stand,” Schroyer said.

Schroyer also believes if the closing would go through there would be an impact on City services.

“They would start looking for houses and setups to put the residents in,” Schroyer said. “Frankly, that creates more difficulties. (Fire) Chief (Mark) Hicks said one (group) house has had over 20 EMS calls. That is something the city deals with on a local level.”

Mayor Bill Moon said calls like that put a burden on city services.

“It puts stress on our services,” Moon said.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business the Council:

  • Approved the Jingle Bell 5K to be held on Saturday, December 7, in conjunction with Oil City’s 19th Annual Christmas Past Event.
  • Approved the Oil City Main Street Program’s request to close Sycamore Street from Elm Street to Seneca Street at the Town Square October 12 during O.C.toberFest, which is being held October 11-12. There will be musical performances in the Town Square October 12 from approximately 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
  • Hired Sara Jean McAndrews as a police dispatcher.
  • Approved a request from Oil City Main Street to use Lot No. 15 (Justus Park) as the wine pick-up station for Oil City Uncorked Wine Walk on September 20.
  • Hired Tim Alex, Brianna Stenta, Dan Metz, and Nathaniel Danzer as part-time firefighters.
  • Moon presented toolboxes to five city departments, so they could have tools in their trucks. Getting toolboxes were Public Works, the Police Department, the Fire Department, the Water Department and the Sewer Department.

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