Gene Bruno

Renovo

With a new election quickly approaching, I want to take the opportunity to review a few accomplishments as well as talk briefly on the future of our great town of Renovo.

First, I would like to thank Ann Tarantella, Pattie Rauch, Rhonda Balchun and Marsha Davis for their service over the past decade plus that each has dedicated themselves to our town. They will be missed, and their efforts should not go unnoticed.

I would also like to thank all of the citizens, neighbors and friends of Renovo that have helped and positively contributed to the efforts of my current term as Renovo Mayor.

When I ran for mayor, my goal was to realign the police department, which I did and what resulted in savings of $40,000. Thanks to those efforts, we were able to put $20,000 towards a required matching grant that enabled us to proceed with the Delaware Avenue Grant that will lead to a new road for the borough.

Under my leadership, we have a full-time officer that works 40 hours a week as well as a part-time officer who receives 30 hours a week. I have continuously worked towards adding a third officer which would give us seven-day-a-week coverage including 24-hour-a-day of protection over the weekend. I feel this is of utmost importance, particularly considering the ever-growing ATV traffic that western Clinton County has seen.

We have boarded many unsafe buildings and have also removed over 30 cars from the streets and alleys at no cost to the borough. We began holding non-residents accountable for the condition of their homes. We start by giving a verbal warning, followed by a written warning, ultimately issuing a fine if noncompliance remains.

My wife, Tracy, and I have been committed to the town’s economic growth, whether it’s residential or commercial, but we can’t do it alone. Supporting small businesses in our area is crucial and I urge you to support them when possible, we need them, and they need us.

I have put my pay as mayor into the town, specifically towards the betterment of Erie Avenue.

I will now turn much of my attention moving forward in uniting the Renovo and South Renovo Boroughs. There is so much Act 13 money around us that we are currently unable to apply for, but by uniting the boroughs some of those gates would open.

This unification would immediately see South Renovo receive police protection and would make hiring a third police officer a certainty. I also feel that it would help bring some younger council members to the table. We need the assistance of the younger generation to bring their thoughts about the future of the area.

Notice that I said “area.” At the end of the day, we should be a municipality together, where fire departments and programs would have access to many more grants. By combining resources, we could hire a grant writing company. Alone we have had to focus on tearing dilapidated buildings down whereas together I believe we could secure the funding to repair structures, whether it’s homes or even new businesses.

Chapman Township does currently donate funds, and we certainly appreciate this, but together we would all be so much stronger and better off.

I am a coach, not a politician and I look at the position of mayor in that manner. A coach holds his players and students accountable and gets his team to work as one and if that doesn’t happen, success is very hard to achieve.

This is not just my philosophy but the thing that has guided my life; I was put on this earth to coach kids and teach them the game of basketball, long after retirement from my full time job as a teacher. Just as so many have always done and continue to do, I now travel out of town to continue coaching, but no matter how many times I go up and down Rte. 120, home has always been Renovo.

If you don’t see this game plan as something the area needs, then I am not your guy.

But if you do agree with me, let’s get to work starting with uniting Renovo and South Renovo and continuing to make our town a great place to live and grow.

Gene Bruno currently serves as mayor of Renovo Borough.