Wellsboro Gazette (Newspaper) - May 16, 2001, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania The Mansfield cupy an edition of Tioga Publishing Co. Vol 4 No 05 PA May 674-120) Mansfield OKs rezoning request for PIP workshop by Chris McGann I1 r s in It ss his li ii cli ii i il most ol its s in tin qut st ti loi iti shi Iti nd in M Id a r eque st and A is ion for during council s M iv Minuting Pnor to last nut ting council d a formal public hearing on the According to our ordinance the must be M 1 said ing md cod is officer r or test is in thi process of pur chasing former store bv dreco on South Main Street Currently FIFs workshop operates out of a Ward Manufacturing v. arc house in Lib i rtv FIF wants a larger facility that is centrally located within the county I he Greco building is located just behind a gas and service sta tion on Mansfield s South Main Street The land is B J highway I he shi Iti red workshop would need to hi in an M 1 light manufacturing irea Robert W itkins president of the Mansfield hire Company urged council to ap proved the request Hi noted that the renovation will improve the look of that area Watkins also told council that he has a relative who is served by FIP and Liberty is too far to travel for that service I think you guys should do the right thing and let this go through Watkins said C did ap prove the rezoning request but the land will not actually be n zoned until at least next month Council President Dr Robert explained that the vote only allows the rezoning process to start Land must be rezoned by ordi nance The borough will draw up the ordinance and have it advertised as required Council will likely take action at its June 13 meeting I hi subdivision for a flag lot was also unanimously approved bv council upon recommendation of the planning commission Our land development ordi nance states that flag lots need to be approved by council horrest said The land development ord mance states that each property must have at least 100 feet of frontage PIP sought and was approved for 50 feet of frontage That 50 feet will allow vehicles access to the PIP property Most of the erty is located behind the service fetation Council rejected the sion earlier this year At that PIP and council had not come to a payment in heu of taxes agree ment PIP and council resolved the tax issue in late March PIP in tends to apply for property tax relief under Act 55 however they will still pay to the borough an- Please see POOL page 14 Southern Tioga plans another tax increase RICHMOND JUDGE of elections Artene Welch and minority inspector Ann Vayansky look over that township s election returns on Tuesday May 15 The judge of elections and minority inspector are responsible for delivering ballots to the courthouse to be counted on election night A total of 458 voters cast their ballots in Richmond Township justice races school board seat contested by Chris McGann Municipal election produced a decent turnout at precincts and at the court house is the returns came in n mv is 50 people mostly candidates and their supporters vv itched in the courthouse foyer as Walter Barnes kc pt a running total of the returns in contested races on a dry erase bo ird Tuesday evening Most t yes were on the races for sheriff Mansfield area dis justice and Southern Tioga Shool Board 1 hr i e of the four races tracked on Tui u night produced clear Barring in cam one of the elections w ill be contests d in the general election on Nov h Incumbent Sheriff John Perry h won the race for sheriff on thi Republican ballot his closest competition by about 900 votis also rt the most Demo cr w rite in votes It incumbent District I imes Carlson will retain his seat as well beating his chal by almost 1 400 on the Republican by more than SOU Democratic votes Both men until they are certified by by Chris McGann Property owners in Southern Tioga School District can expect another tax increase next year following tentative approval of a 2 million spending plan for the 2001-2002 school year According to district business manager Jim the entire 1 78 mill tax increase is for the re- cently completed district wide building renovation projects The County townships in the district will likely see a tax in- crease of 0 74 mills 1 78 mills is consistent with the building said during a budget pre- sentation at the May 14, meeting of the school board By a unanimous the board approved the nary reflecting that tax hike The preliminary budget calls for a millage rate of 36 6 mills for municipalities served by the dis in Tioga County and 1547 for those communities served in County None of the eight board bers who voted offered comment on the tentative budget Board member Steve Whipple was not in attendance at the meeting The total budget for 2001-2002 is representing a 0 5 percent increase in spending over the current year major driver in this budget is medical insurance said Also on the expense koski reported that the budget represents a 28 percent increase in employee health insurance He did note that the district is ing for an alternative insurance carrier Southern Tioga is budgeting nearly 3 million for employee an increase of The other major ex- pense area is salaries The district is budgeting 3 million for which reflects a decrease of 0 25 percent over the current year While salaries are going up by about 3 25 a total of nine staff vacated by are not going to be filled due to declining said Additional expenses in this year's budget include a half-time social studies teacher at North Penn High a computer aide at Liberty Elementary School a contract for technology and a girls soccer team at Mansfield High School The line item is also going up by nearly attributed that to in- creasing fuel prices filed In Southern Tioga School Districts region 2, voters will have a choice to make m Novem ber as challenger George Kump apparently made it onto the bal lot by garnering three more Democratic votes than incumbent Steve Whipple Kump and incumbents Steve Whipple and Dennis Crumb all cross filed Crumb received 146 Demo cratic 91 and 88 On the Republican side Crumb received 529 votes Whipple received 340 and Kump netted 301 All three men will appear on the November general election ballot for the two available region three school board seats In the districts region three Kathleen Halstead garnered al most 150 more Republican votes and 25 more Democrat votes than her opponent Enrico Senne Both cross filed As a result of winning both par ties nominations Halstead will be the only candidate whose will appear on Novembers ballot for region three All of the vote totals are the election return board on May 18 After taking an early lead Tuesday sheriff date Gary Phelps of Wellsboro fell behind after the sixth Wellsboro ward was recorded By 11 p m lagging behind in both the Republican and Democrat Phelps con- ceded the election to incumbent John Perry voters have Phelps said to Perry lations Just before leaving the court house Phelps expressed disap in voter not mg that local races impact people more directly than national but that the national races tend to bring more voters to the polls He did thank his supporters and said the race has been fun I tried to run a clean cam and I hope that sets a pre- cedent for future campaigns Phelps said For his part Perry said that he is glad the race is over and he can now get back to work I wish the other two Perry said Please see ELECTION page 14 Also included is a line item for tuition to Elmira School District Elmira provides educational ser vices to a hearing-impaired dent m the district This year's contract is for According to 58 per cent of the budgeted expenses go toward instruction and 30 toward other student vices Debt service amounts to 10 and student activities count represents the remaining 2 percent of expenses On the revenue side of the property taxes are expected to in 4 million That re- flects a 5 percent millage rate in- crease and a 3 5 percent increase in property assessments In Southern Tioga is budgeting for a five percent in- crease in revenue from the earned income tax The district is ing to raise from that 0 5 percent income tax The district is also budgeting from occupation assessment taxes and from the real estate transfer tax State support of the district is expected to be about 50 percent reported that Southern Tioga is expecting a basic state subsidy of an increase of 2 88 and a special cation subsidy of 926, an m- Please see TAXES page 14 Mansfield anticipates July 4 opening for new public pool by Chris McGann Mansfield Borough is hoping to have its new swimming pool open by the middle of the summer The borough council addressed a number of issues related to the swimming pool construction project during its Wednesday May 9, meeting are discussing an open house to hit our target date of July Borough Manager Ld Grala reported He further noted that tors report that the project is on schedule The swimming pool committee is also looking into purchasing plaques to honor contributors to the project Urala also reported that the committee has contacted the Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola compa mes about sponsorships as well On Wednesday evening coun cil officially approved an ordi nance to issue two bonds to pay for the project Both bonds are for Solicitor Rudy van der Hiel ex- that one of the bonds will be paid off soon The other could take some time Mansfield has received grants of and from the Rural Assistance Capital Program and the Department of tion and Natural Resources re- Both require equal matching funds As soon as the state gives Mansfield the green light to draw down those funds the first bond will be repaid want to make sure that we have the money to pay bills van der Hiel explained Mansfield also has received ap proximately in tions and pledges for the pool project and anticipates raising additional funds Also included is a pledge from Richmond ship to help fund the pool con- struction as well Any remaining balance will need to be paid for through an annual line item in future ough budgets Council also approved a lution allowing the borough to transfer money from the bonds to the general account The borough has already had to spend money from the general fund to cover some van der Hiel said Council also approved two change orders One change will add two signs required by costing The other is to build an access road to the area because the existing one is inadequate Council member Stu Crossen asked if there will be any more will likely be using turf instead of top soil and seeding if Please see POOL page 14 Fatal party host facing drug charges in Williamsport by Chris McGann A Wellsboro teen who is sched uled to be sentenced next week hosting an underage alcohol party that turned deadly last year was arrested bv Williamsport City Po hcc last week for allegedly at tempting to sill drugs According to criminal com plaint forms filed by Williamsport Police Joshua P Jessup 19 was charged with a count of possession of a controlled sub stance with intent to deliver and single inor counts of pos session of a controlled substance and possession of drug p naha of illig h id -i v i n h of bin which are dried hallucinogenic mushrooms in his apartment According to the report filed by Williamsport police officer Raymond Ill the officer was serving subpoenas at the a part ment house where Jessup is living He reported that six or siven males ran thi build mg as he pulled up in a cruiser While waiting for assistance heard on the third floor a loud voice and ob scene language reported He went on to report that one teen allowed police into the apart I ater two of Jessup s room mates returned and allowed to continue his search of the apartment During the police alleg edly found seven bags of dried psilocybin under Jessup's mat Kontz reported Jessup's roommates reported to the landlord that Jessup was selling narcotics from the ment reported He added that the landlord confirmed that information It was determined that Jessup had in fact jumped out a third floor window to flee police and was not currently at the Kontz wrote was taken into custody the following day and was ar before District Justice James Sortman Jessup was re manded to County Prison in lieu of bail Jessup had c nti red guilty pleas with Tioga Court on Feb 14 in regards to the fatal party he hosted on his parents last summer In that cast lessup pleaded guilty to single misdemeanor counts of corruption of a minor conspiracy to commit abuse to a criminal attempt to tamper with a and furnish ing alcohol to minors Under thi plea agreement 13 other charges Jessup was facing wi ro dropped He is scheduled to be sentenced by Tioga Judge Robert r Dalton Jr on Monday May 21 District v told The this morning that the Probation Depart ment will amend their pre sen tence investigation to reflect that the additional charges have been filed against Jessup Cowley added that he was un- certain what if impact the charges filed m Williamsport will have on Jessup's sentencing out come next week in county court Jessup hosted the underage drinking party at his property on Upper Heise Run 9 and 10 Following the Kyle Richardson 18, of Center was found dead at the party site A subsequent autopsy revealed that Richardson died of alcohol poisoning Jessup and another person at the party had planned to move Richardson's body from near the fire ring and into Richardson's vehicle After driving to three dences searching for Jessup learned that the keys were still clipped on Richardson's shorts Richardson's father discovered his son's body before Jessup re- turned early Aug 10 Two people were sentenced to serve four days each for ing alcohol for the party Jessup's Patrick and were also charged for edly allowing the party to take place Dalton dismissed those charges
