A well-known name in Tyrone, Dan Meckes, will appear for Democratic voters casting ballots for candidates seeking a spot on Tyrone Borough Council in the May primary.
Earlier today, Meckes said he was headed to the Blair Couny elections office this morning to file the necessary petitions by Tuesday’s deadline to enter the primary.
In a release this morning, Meckes outlined the reasons he decided to take another stab a council seat after losing the opportunity to other candidates in the 2003 general election.
Meckes, who served on council in 1984 and 1985, noted the September 2004 flood “forced his decision.”
He said, “Had the present council done its job to protect the town rather than use all that money for phony adornments and put it into completion of the flood project…there would not have been that flood which cost the community hundreds of thousands of personal, individual dollars.”
Meckes said the project was engineered and has been waiting to be completed for more than 20 years.
Meckes noted one council person had written a letter to the editor giving details of the flood protection plan. However, Meckes said, “I have yet to hear or read of his, or any councilperson’s insistence in a council meeting that the project must be completed.”
Meckes asked, “Must Tyrone wait another 20 years?”
He said his first priority “will be to hammer and keep hammering until the entire project is completed.”
In his press release, Meckes offered seven other specific reasons or goals regarding why he decided to run for one of four council seats which are being contested in the May primary.
Those reasons included his belief that “council has been operating illegally for eight years.” He said council members ignored their responsibility to the voters and gave their powers to the mayor. Meckes said it resulted “in a virtual dictatorship.”
He said the borough’s home rule charter prohibits such a situation. He said if he served on council he would “work diligently to decrease the power of the mayor and return that power to the citizens of Tyrone.”
Meckes told The Daily Herald this morning, if he is elected to council, “There will be no more secrets and nothing but what is allowed by home rule charter will be allowed in executive sessions.”
He also voiced concerns about who might serve as mayor with the departure of Tyrone’s two-term leader, Patricia Stoner. He said one of the candidates had used Stoner as a mentor before he announced he was running for office. Meckes did not name the candidate in his release, but he said he did not want a “puppet mayor.” He said, “The mayor has had her day. A clean break with the past is due.”
He said he feared there was an issue of the constitutional “separation of church and state in the candidacy” of one of the two announced office seekers for mayor.
Meckes mentioned improving housing for elderly, low and fixed income residents, determining the financial status of the borough through a complete audit, “department by department” as other goals if he were to serve on council.
Meckes added that he wants a “fully-qualified, experienced borough manager” to guide the borough through what he termed were “troubling financial times.”
He also said he wanted to “halt the destruction of tax-generating areas for private gain.”
Meckes’ background in addition to his former council service includes the newspaper industry, public relations and teaching. Meckes is a former editor of The Daily Herald.
This morning, Meckes told the newspaper he will be seeking a four-year term. There are three four-year terms available for Tyrone Borough Council in this year’s elections.
A two-year term is also up for grabs due to the resignation of former councilman J. R. Watson in December of 2004. Council appointed Don Boytim to fill the vacancy but he can only hold the position through the end of this year as an appointee. The remaining two years will be filled by whoever garners the most votes for the term in the November general election. Boytim has said he planned to seek an elected term.
In Tyrone’s mayoral race, there are two declared candidates, councilman Bill Fink and Joshua House leader Jim Kilmartin. Earlier this year both men announced they were entering the May 17 Republican primary to seek a spot on the November general election ballot.
