Mackle to retire at end of term

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA - Wayne County is going to lose one of its best assets-the services of county treasurer Bruce Mackle.

Mackle, who will be 74 in April, will retire on the last day of his term, December 31, 2007. He will have served as county treasurer for 20 years, winning election to five consecutive four-year terms.

“I feel very proud of that record,” Mackle said. “I’m announcing early so that a candidate for the job of county treasurer can put in a petition in time for the May primary election,” he said.

The county was very different when he first came into office in 1987, and when he was young. “It was a different world in many ways,” Mackle said. “I was born on my family’s dairy farm on Route 6 in Seelyville,” he said. “Back then, we bottled our own milk and delivered it. I miss the old mom-and-pop kind of stores that were the norm in those days. Now, we have the big box stores like Wal-Mart and K-Mart. Things never stand still. They’re always moving and we have to move with it.”

An aspect of his job that he especially enjoyed was going from township to township in the evening selling dog licenses. “I got to meet and know the people of the county a lot better than by just sitting here in the courthouse,” he said. That’s all changed now that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, who is responsible for the licensing procedure, directed license renewals to be done by mail.

“Running the county is like running several big businesses, like running 25 big businesses under one roof,” he said. “The county’s departments are handling more and more.”

Mackle feels that the county is doing a great job dealing with growth. “We’ve grown very fast during the time I’ve been here and it shows no sign of stopping,” he said.

“I think the commissioners have done an excellent job preserving farms in the county, by donating money to the farm preservation effort,” he said. “Agriculture is still the biggest industry in the state, and the way of life needs to be preserved.”

Last month, the county commissioners allocated $75,000 to the Agriculture Preservation Board-an increase of $45,000 over 2006. The money is used to purchase development rights from the farmers so that they can still stay in business.

According to statistics from the Penn State Cooperative Extension, the county currently has 110 dairy farms, down from 170 such farms 10 years ago.

“It’s a big temptation to farmers who are close to retirement to sell their farms to developers,” Mackle said. “We’ve got to help them keep their farms active and open.”