Union and Snyder County
I am writing to testify about the reapportionment plan regarding Union and Snyder Counties. It is important that this community of interest is kept together as much as possible. These two counties are both small in population compared to most counties of the state, and it is understandable that due to their population, it is not possible to have all of both counties in the same legislative district. It is important for them to be together as much as possible as they share many of the same resources. For instance, the district office for the current PA-85 is located in Mifflinburg, Union County, and this new plan would have this district office in the new PA-84. Constituents of the new PA-85 would have a new district office, most likely in the Susquehanna Valley in Selinsgrove which would be over an hour's drive for the residents of Mifflin and Juniata County, which would now be a part of this new district. PA-85 would be represented by someone who lives over an hour from them. PA-84 is the same. Based on the current map, the state representative lives over an hour from those constituents in the western half of Union County. The new PA-84 has Union and Sullivan County being represented together although they do not share any resources, making them two rural communities with different needs. Another thing to consider is the media footprint and travel patterns of these two counties. Besides the constituent services issue, there would also be more complicated to get resources to these areas if they are split up. Both Union and Snyder County have local media that covers them and Northumberland and Montour County (The Daily Item and WKOK) Having PA-84 and PA-85 include Mifflin, Juniata, Lycoming, and Sullivan counties as well would make it tougher to effectively distribute critical information as several more media outlets would have to stay up to date on more representatives as they would cover more ground outside of their community of interest. The issue of the shared resources also arises when discussing local EMS Systems and 911 Center. The current reapportioned map that splits up Union and Snyder does not take into account that these two counties share the same EMS911 center which is based in Selinsgrove. Splitting up these two counties would make it harder as two different representatives would have to fight for resources, one of which would not live in either county, to solve any issues that could arise. This does not take into account that Union County specifically East Buffalo Township and Lewisburg Borough are separated. These two municipalities work very close together and both include Bucknell University. One example of how they work together ties back to the 911 system in the counties. They both are patrolled by the Buffalo Valley police and even split funding for this. Having these two municipalities, which are already a part of the same school district, separated adds an extra layer of complication if resources are ever needed from the state. As a constituent who currently lives in PA-85 but this map would have me in PA-84, I would argue that the communities of interest are being cracked without much consideration. Mifflinburg, Lewisburg, Middleburg, and Selinsgrove are a community of interest. Lewisburg specifically will be cracked as Kelly Township and Lewisburg Borough will be in the new PA-84 and East Buffalo and Union Townships will be in the new PA-85. I believe it would be best to keep these four towns in PA-85 and the rest of Lycoming and Sullivan Counties in PA-84. Doing this would make both districts more compact and entirely between two counties each rather than three or four each. It is also difficult for county commissioners in these respective counties to communicate their needs to the state legislators that represent them as nearly twice as many people would represent these counties. Before reapportionment, PA-84 and PA-85 combined are contained within three counties. Now that number is seven. This is difficult because now three more people would be in charge of the same county-wide problems. I would like to hear that everyone in the reapportionment commission will consider these comments as they continue this process.