SALISBURY ― It will be up to residents in Callimont Borough and Larimer Township to decide whether to merge after Somerset County Commissioners and the county Election Board approved Tuesday adding a question to the next election ballot.
A referendum on the November ballot will ask the residents if Callimont should be merged into Larimer Township. The borough, which has around 50 residents according to the 2020 Census, could then merge voting precincts with Larimer Township, which had a little more than 540 residents in the 2020 Census, said county Solicitor Ben Carroll.
"It's not up to us, it's up to the municipalities," Commissioner Irv Kimmel said.
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Callimont solicitor Lois Witt Caton said the merge would eliminate the borough, and those residents would become residents of Larimer Township. She said the borough council would cease to exist and the Larimer Township supervisors would become the governing body.
"Both millage rates are identical and they are both debt-free, so there is no assumption of additional debt," Caton said after the meeting. "So there would not be any difference."
The election board also approved adding "24" for the 2024 year on the election ballot envelopes. They said the envelopes have 20__, and they are concerned people will put the wrong date in, making their ballots invalid.
The board also approved disposing of the 2020 balloting materials. Carroll said federal election law requires materials to be kept for 22 months. The materials this time were kept longer because of a case in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, he said. Somerset County will be compliant with the federal law and doesn't need to keep the materials any longer, Carroll said.
The commissioners also agreed to put out a call for bids to install new carpeting in Partners Hall on the Pennsylvania Highlands Community College Somerset Center campus.
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Public comment
A handful of people attended the Somerset County Commissioners meeting held at the Salisbury Fire Hall Tuesday evening.
Two members of the community spoke to the commissioners. George Critchfield spoke concerning the proposed ATV Trail through Somerset County. He recited Department of Conservation and Natural Resources data he found about how much money ATV trails in the northeastern part of the state are bringing in through registrations alone. Critchfield said he hopes Commissioner Brian Fochtman continues to push for getting an ATV trail established in the county.
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Elaine Tressler, of Springs, told the commissioners she has lived in that area since 1956. Last year she called for senior transportation to take her from Springs to Meyersdale for physical therapy. Tressler said she was told the transportation system doesn't go into the Springs area because it is too far from Somerset. She said she talked to people in a few different agencies in Somerset about her need for transportation, but they said they couldn't help her. Fochtman took her contact information and said he would look into the matter.
Madolin Edwards has been a journalist at the Daily American, covering school boards, borough councils, sports and news stories. Contact the Daily American reporters at news@dailyamerican.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Residents to vote whether Callimont Borough, Larimer Township should merge
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