Editor’s note: A few weeks ago, the Tribune provided readers with what we believe are the most important Crawford County stories of the year. We then asked our readers to rank the stories from #1 (most important) to #12 (least important). Today we present story #12, 11 and 10.
No. 12 – Meadville-Vernon Police Agreement
After a 20-year police agreement between the city of Meadville and Vernon Township, the arrangement couldn’t have worked better, officials from both municipalities said.
“I don’t think there’s any downside,” Vernon Township manager Rob Horvat said last week. “I just hope that what we’ve experienced this past year continues for the next 19 years.”
Chief Michael Stefanucci of the Meadville Police Department offered a similar assessment.
“It turned out better than I ever could have imagined,” Stefanucci said. “I honestly couldn’t think of a single negative where something has happened in the past year. We were just lucky, no problem at all. The reactions have always been positive.”
The agreement, signed last year, took effect on January 1 with the dissolution of the municipal department after 65 years of service. For the first time, the municipality had to deal with 24-hour police patrols every day of the year.
The deal was largely made possible by the city’s overfunded police pension fund. More than $3 million from the fund was transferred to the Meadville Police Pension Fund and will provide annual appropriations for the first 17 years of the agreement to cover police service costs billed to the city.
In a normal year, the appropriations will reduce annual compensation for police services by about $350,000 to $138,000. According to Horvat, the city expects to save $4.1 million over the life of the agreement compared to continuing to operate its own police force.
“The Vernon Township Police Department was a great police department, but we had limitations with our budget. We just didn’t have the 24/7 police department that we have now,” Horvat added. “That’s great for the community.”
Stefanucci said the staff members hired to fill the new positions and fill additional vacancies have proven to be one of the best results of the agreement.
“When we added officers, we got the best five or six guys the department has ever had,” Stefanucci said. “We were fortunate to be able to attract these guys to our area.”
The additions came after a period in which the department struggled to fill vacant positions and sometimes had to demand grueling amounts of overtime for existing officers.
“It’s something I didn’t see coming,” Stefanucci said of the change. “We were fighting like everyone else to keep and maintain manpower, and then this deal came along and suddenly we became a place where everyone wanted to work and attracted all these top guys.”
No. 11 — Tuttle Point Campground reopens
LINESVILLE – After a 14-year absence, Pymatuning State Park’s Tuttle Point Campground reopened to the public this spring.
April 12 was the first day of camping at Tuttle Point since late October 2009.
Tuttle Point, located north of the Route 285 causeway, is one of three campgrounds in Pennsylvania’s Pymatuning State Park.
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources had it closed after the 2009 camping season as a cost-saving measure. The high operating costs of Tuttle’s outdated water treatment plant were one of the reasons for the state’s closure.
Pymatuning State Park’s two other campgrounds – Jamestown, on the south side of the park’s lake, and Linesville, on the north side of the lake – remained in operation.
At a public meeting in October 2021, the state outlined plans to revitalize the campground and ordered the rehabilitation and rebuilding of Tuttle Point Campground.
An $8 million project, conducted in 2022 and 2023, leveled the campground, moved some campsites closer to Pymatuning Lake and improved infrastructure and facilities at Tuttle Point.
The revised campground has a two-loop configuration with 112 campsites, versus three loops with 201 campsites.
Tuttle Point’s central and eastern camping loops were rebuilt as handicapped accessible sites with water, sewer and electrical hookups. The west loop has not reopened, but it could be a future project.
New water and sewer lines were installed on the Tuttle Point site. The campsite’s 75,000 liter water tank was renovated and a new sewage pumping station and water treatment plant were installed.
The campsite has a new toilet and shower building and a smaller new toilet on the beach. A new accessible fishing pier and boat launch were also installed, while roads and parking lots were repaved.
The state held formal dedication ceremonies for the renovated Tuttle Point Campground on June 6.
No. 10 — Meadville volleyball team wins state title
STATE COLLEGE – Revenging previous losses, the Meadville boys volleyball team won the 2024 Class 2A PIAA championship in June.
The Bulldogs defeated Manheim Central 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 28-26) at Penn State University’s Recreation Hall. It was the program’s third title (1961, 2019) and the team’s seventh appearance in the title game. Meadville lost to Lower Dauphin in 2021 and 2022.
In the fourth set, Meadville trailed 23-19 and 24-20, but didn’t hesitate for a moment. A service error, Luc Soerensen’s back-to-back kills and a Max Decker block tied the match at 24. Maheim Central had set point at 25-24 and 26-25, but the ‘Dogs had the upper hand.
Soerensen tied the set at 25 and a Decker kill made it 26-all. Tymir Phillips had a huge block in the middle to push Meadville ahead. The winner comes after a failed move by Manheim Central.
“I’m really proud of these guys. They fought. It was a tough game the whole game,” Meadville head coach Nick Bancroft said after the game. “Manheim are a great team and these guys had to give everything they had.”
Soerensen led the team with 18 kills and added nine digs and two blocks. Jack Brown recorded 41 assists, four digs, two blocks and two kills. Landon Carter and Luca White had eight and six digs, respectively.
Parker Gosnell and Tymir Phillips each had nine kills. Max Decker and Kellen Ball each added six.
