MILFORD, PA — Evidence of county efforts on the economy, the environment and public safety were apparent at the April 20 meeting of the Pike County Commissioners.

Mike Sullivan, executive director of the Pike County Economic Development Authority (EDA), and Cindy DeFebo, director of Pike County Workforce Development, reported that hundreds of job seekers took part in the April 15 “Working Pike” job fair. “The room was full and the energy was wonderful.” They provided a video of the fair, with positive comments from participants.

DeFebo said between 530 and 600 people took advantage of 67 employers on hand.

Both thanked their staffs for coordinating efforts and help in producing resumes for participants as well as the commissioners for county support.

Commissioner Rich Caridi said he wanted the fair to become an annual event.

Jessica Grohmann, who coordinates the board of the Pike County Scenic Rural Character Preservation (SRCP) program for the Pike County Office of Community Planning, reported on the occasion of the program’s 10th anniversary.

Grohmann said that since 2006, the program has funded $440,000 for 20 local planning projects in nine municipalities and has awarded $5.6 million for acquisition of property for parks, open space and trails as well as the purchase of conservation easements from willing sellers. The program leverages some $6 million in state and federal dollars, leading to the protection of 3,519 acres.

On the safety front, a National Weather Service meteorologist from Binghamton, NY, Dave Nicosia, was in Milford last week to present the PA/NWS “Storm Ready” designation to the “state of the art” Pike County Emergency Training Center for the county’s significant efforts in using various redundant media to update residents about “tornadoes, ice jams and all the crazy weather you get down here.”

The designation comes without local cost and earns 25 points of reduction in federally backed flood insurance rates.

Jordan Wisniewski of Pike’s Training Center also announced that the center’s training program would include about 100 youths in a Junior Firefighter Weekend on the weekend of April 23 and 24, and on May 1 would further include “first ever” Pike ceremonies for 26 firefighting volunteers who had “gone above and beyond,” to achieve national certification. These certifications prompt reductions in homeowners insurance in their communities, he said.