Indiana County Pennsylvania Commissioners
November 23, 2021 To Whom It May Concern: On behalf of Indiana County Commissioners, we are submitting this as written testimony to provide comment to the Commission on our interests for Indiana County and its residents. Indiana County has a strong history of working together with not only its own County partners, but our contiguous County partners and more specifically over a long period of time, Armstrong County. Indiana and Armstrong County share numerous resources and have for a very long time such as Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) having a campus in both Counties. Those common interests alone spurred great working relationships between educational entities, but created collaborations in workforce needs, business parks, transportation, and other economic planning factors for both Counties and their resident’s benefits. Further, Indiana and Armstrong Counties partner to deliver critical services such as coordination of services for behavioral and intellectual development health needs through the Armstrong Indiana Behavioral Developmental Health Program; the prevention, treatment and management of substance use and misuse disorders through the Single County Authority, the Armstrong, Indiana Clarion Drug and Alcohol Commission; provision and coordination of employer and job seeker resources through the Armstrong, Indiana and Butler Tri-County Workforce Investment Board Region; and countless other initiatives. aligning these resources and efforts have proven effective and productive for both Counties, resulting in saving on associated costs, time, people and various resources. As anyone knows and can attest, these valued and truly priceless relationships and collaborative partnerships take a lot of time to build and sustain to produce positive outcomes such as the ones mentioned. We, here in Indiana County speak often about the actual physical location of our County and for all its positives, sometimes Indiana County being in the physical location it is often feels isolated and alone. The reason being is because of where it is located the coverage whether it be media, or state drawn such as a “Workforce Development Region” and/or a regional “Metropolitan Area” such as the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission or SPC or something such as a legislative district, residents are often confused as to which or where Indiana County is within those important statewide efforts. Even for elected officials it is hard to keep up with where the County is a contributing partner on various matters because different state and/or regional requirements put Indiana County in different partnerships based either on population or physical location. Additionally, and something to keep in mind regarding additional population to fill the district’s reapportionment needs is the presence of IUP in Punxsutawney, Jefferson County. It just happens to be fortuitous common denominator as it was in Armstrong and Indiana Counties. Also, Punxsutawney School District serves the northern part of the county, which could include the southern part of Jefferson County such as Porter, Perry, Young, Bell, Gaskill Townships along with Punxsutawney Borough. If additional areas such as Clearfield County where Purchase Line School District is located could be included would be helpful to existing relationships that already exist in those areas that include Burnside and Mahaffey Borough and Burnside and Bell Townships. With all of this said, the Indiana County Commissioners value the opportunity to provide input on why it is so vitally important keep Armstrong and Indiana County together in the new reapportionment process and provide other suggestions. If you should have any questions or require further testimony, please do not hesitate to contact us at 724-465-3805. Thank you for your consideration in this important matter to Indiana County Residents. Indiana County Commissioners R. Michael Keith, Robin Gorman and Sherene Hess