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Officials honor Memorial Day with bell ringing

Mifflin, Juniata county leaders find way to celebrate holiday

MIFFLINTOWN — County and state leaders have found a new way to celebrate Memorial Day.

“Because we can’t honor Memorial Day like we normally would with parades, we thought it would be a good idea to ring bells at noon in Juniata and Mifflin counties. We have talked to the Mifflin County commissioners as well,” state Rep. John Hershey, R-Mifflintown, said during the Juniata County Commissioners meeting Tuesday. “We want to do this as a way to honor the occasion and thank those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. It’s a way to honor our front-line workers as well, as they are combating COVID-19 since we can’t always see them and thank them right now. If you have access to bells at home, or churches that have bells, ring those in honor of Memorial Day at noon on Monday to thank our front-line workers as well.”

In regard to local counties moving into the yellow and eventually the green phase, Hershey said, “We do continue to send bills to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk. We are doing a bill for florists and a bill for outdoor seating and 50 percent capacity inside restaurants that would allow restaurants to operate in a safe manner. We have actually started to see a fairly bi-partisan majority on all of these bills. It is clear the governor is starting to feel the pressure of this extended closure as this effort starts to become a lot more bipartisan.”

Hershey reminded the residents of Juniata County that, as things move into the yellow phase on Friday, retailers and “non-essential” businesses are allowed to start reopening in a safe manner following guidelines put in place by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

He added, “I would encourage you to do so if you can.”

County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania Executive Director Lisa Schaefer said, “One of things that we try to do is cut through all the information that is out there and try to make sure the commissioners and county staff have good information. We know that there has been a lot of frustration about the ability of counties to communicate with the state about how the process of reopening should be. We have had calls with Gov. Tom Wolf and Secretary (Rachel) Levine to talk about contact tracing, testing and try to get answers to some of the other questions as well and share information.”

Shaefer said they also have had conversations with the state about the Federal Cares Fund. The Federal Cares Fund was money that was approved by the Federal Government about a month ago. However, it was only allotted to those local governments with populations of 500,000 or more. The rest of the money from that fund went to the state and can in turn be allocated back to local governments.

Shaefer added, “Those discussions are still ongoing, and we are advocating very strongly that the rest of our counties should be eligible for a portion of the funding. We also know the federal government is working on a potential subsequent aid package that we are tracking as well.”

Commissioner Alice Gray said, “Even though we are a very small population, we don’t always have the resources available for income as larger counties do. I understand we are all hurting, however, smaller counties are hurting as much or more because we don’t have the resources that larger counties often have.”

In an update, Rhonda Moore, executive director of the Juniata River Valley Chamber of Commerce shared that the Central Keystone Valley HR Professionals are hosting a free webinar called “Bringing employees back — A legal prospective.”

The webinar will be held 11 a.m. to noon today. Those interested can register at hracc.shrm.org.

Moore also added that the fireworks display for this year has been canceled. This was done in an effort to maintain safety in the community by avoiding gathering in large groups and to take the burden off of local businesses that would normally support the event.

“Given those two reasons it was with a heavy heart that we decided to cancel the fireworks for this year,” she said.

The small business administration along with the treasury department have released the application for loan forgiveness for those who have applied for the PPP loan. The application can be accessed on the SBA website at sba.gov.

Juniata County Library Director Vince Giordano said as the Mifflin and Juniata counties move into the yellow phase on Friday, there are some new services in the process of being implemented. One of those services when it becomes available will be curbside services for people returning or picking up books. Patrons will be able to call ahead to let staff know what books they would like to check out.

For those seeking assistance with tax related issues, Brenda Varner, director of Tax Claims Bureau said, “For delinquent real estate payers this time of the year I deal with people that need a “legal agreement” and because the court house is closed to the public we are going to have to do it differently this year. When they receive their notice, they will need to call tax claims at (717) 436-7705 and I will give them instructions as to how we are going to enter into the legal agreements this year. It will all be done by phone and mail. As long as they get ahold of my office, we will work with them. This year’s legal agreements will affect people that owe for the year 2018.”

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