H o a r p o p b e s nings l l e
1 • WELLSBORO HAPPENINGS
W
No. 30 - Issued Quarterly
NOVEMBER 2019
We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men. ~Herman Melville BOROUGH OF WELLSBORO, PA
November 2019
The Life of Officer Wilson
Mike Wood- Then and Now:
Officer Brad Wilson is from Tioga County, born and raised in Tioga. In high school he knew there were only two things he really wanted to do in life, be in the military, and go into law enforcement. He had always been in the Fire Department and knew he enjoyed helping people. That’s how he knew what those two things were. Brad’s whole family has served in the military, and to keep the family tradition, he went into the Marine Corps. He got out in 1997 thinking the military aspect was over with, so he came back to Tioga and went to the Mansfield University Police academy in 1998. He was employed as a police officer from 1999 till 2002, but when September 11th happened, he knew that he was destined to go back into the service of his country. He was engaged at the time, with a fiancé due with twins. After September 11th he decided to enlist in the Army. Leaving from Savannah GA in January 2003, he went to Kuwait and participated in the Invasion of Iraq in March. After serving two tours in Iraq and one tour in Afghanistan, he returned to find he would be raising his three small daughters alone. Coming home to Tioga County, he decided it was time to go back into law enforcement. In 2009, he applied to the Wellsboro Police Department (WPD), was hired, and has been working for the WPD ever since, making him the only Combat Veteran Police Officer in Tioga County. Officially February 1st 2020, he is proud to say, he will retire from the military after 20 years of service. Brad has been happily married since 2007 to his lovely wife Teri, and lives here in Wellsboro with Teri and his children.
In my years 30+ years as Borough Councilman and Emergency Management Coordinator for the Borough, I am happy and proud to have been a part of so many improvements to our community. Thinking back to when I was first elected, just after high school, the old sewer plant was ½ its current size and now, the expansion allows the plant to serve Charleston and Delmar customers as well as the Borough. With the old water filtering plant, we used to have to boil water at least once a year and now, the many improvements and the installation of the Pall System has made that a distant memory. Through leasing property to the Gas Industry, there has been money to pay for updates to these systems, which has helped tremendously to keep our taxes and user fees low. Back then, the Police Department location was a single story house and the Fire Department location housed a laundry. It was then brought up for a referendum vote to pay $300,000 to build the Fire Department building and move the Borough Office and Police Department into that. Now, we have the new Borough Office down the street which has the state store rent covering the expenses on the Borough Office. Street Loan: We used to be able to pave only one or two streets a year, but we now use the gas tax we pay at the pump to fund paving. The Borough borrows money every 4 years in a Street Loan to pave several streets. The loan gets paid off using this yearly state distribution of gas tax money. Serving on Borough Council is very rewarding. We don’t always agree, but we can at least sit down, come up with solutions to problems, and work out what is best for the community.
ON THE INSIDE... New Street Sweeper............................................Page 2 911 Addressing Update........................................Page 2 Winter RV/Motorcycle Storage.........................Page 2 Wellsboro Welcomes New Businesses.............Page 3 Dickens of a Christmas Schedule................. Pages 4-5 Kickoff to Christmas Open House.....................Page 6
Gift of Free Parking..............................................Page 6 New Parking App..................................................Page 7 Christmas on Main Street Schedule............ Pages 8-9 Municipal Authority Projects...........................Page 10 Community Projects..........................................Page 11 Borough Boards and Commissions..................Page 11