During Tuesday night’s Indiana Borough Council Agenda Prep Session, George Hood announced he is stepping down as Mayor of Indiana Borough.
Hood said that he had been dealing with several medical problems as of late and had to move out of the borough to live with his daughter in White Township. Hood has served as Mayor of Indiana Borough for the last 23 years. During his time, he helped organize the sendoff of troops from Indiana to Afghanistan in 2020, and was part of the borough’s Bicentennial in 2016 and other events during that time. He said what he will miss the most is being with the members of borough council at their regular meetings, something he already was missing when the meetings were moved to Zoom video chat due to the pandemic.
Borough Council President Peter Broad said he will take over as interim mayor until someone is appointed to fill the remainder of Hood’s term, which ends at the end of the year.
In other business, the borough council approved by a 6-4 vote a resolution that provides direction to Indiana Borough Police concerning the Governor Tom Wolf’s Health and Safety orders dealing with Covid-19. The resolution states that the borough’s policy to promote and, if necessary, proactively enforce Governor Wolf’s orders, and to work with the business community and other stakeholders to find ways to mitigate the economic impacts of the mandates. This came on the heels of Indiana Borough Police issuing a citation to Crouse’s Cafe in Downtown Indiana for being open for in-person dining when it was prohibited under Governor Wolf’s orders. Indiana Borough Police Chief Justin Schawl said that he was trying his best to remain supportive of the business community.
It was also announced that Christmas Tree collection starts next week. The tree pickup will take place the day after the normal garbage pickup for each ward, and trees should be placed where the garbage is normally placed.
