Blair County Commissioner candidates answer questions at public forum

ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ)-- Candidates seeking party nominations for Blair County Commissioner attended a public forum at the Devorris Downtown Center on Tuesday evening.

Each of the six candidates lined up to answer questions from moderators before a question-and-answer portion of the night with the attendees. Each candidate was given 2 minutes uninterrupted to answer the questions.

The questions started with, "What is the most pressing issue in Blair County now?"

"I think Blair County has, to put it mildly, something like a leaky roof," Republican Candidate Scott Barger said. "Or maybe a couple of leaky roofs, namely, the unfunded pension and a prison that is in desperate need of attention."

"What I have seen over the last term, is we have a lot of people doing a lot of good work who care deeply about this community," Democrat Candidate and current commissioner Laura Burke said. "But there's a lack of communication and there's a lack of collaboration."

Candidates touched on a wide range of issues including the efficiency of government systems, crime and the state of the ...