Latest news with #Martynuska
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Johnstown City Council holds work session on Central Park Project
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ)– Before the regularly scheduled monthly meeting Wednesday night, the Johnstown City Council held a work session for the Central Park Renovation Project. The project has received criticism from community members and current and former council members. As the project inches closer to the bidding process, which council members had hoped to accomplish by August, there's a new firm taking over the project. 'Scape Design disassociated themselves with the city,' said City Manager Art Martynuska. 'We got the official word from them on March 31, and CJL Engineering was always a sub, but now they became the prime.' Now CJL has proposed what Martynuska describes as minor changes to the original design, with changes to lighting, walkways and where the Christmas tree will sit during Light Up Night. 'The original plan from Scape required the tree to be in the corner of the park, we thought that, from a public appearance perspective, it would be best in the center of the park.' But not everyone on the council agrees with the changes. 'It does not need to be in the center of the park,' Council Member Laura Huchel said. 'There's no safety concern with the tree being in the location that Scape originally planned.' Huchel said that CJL is a great local company, but that they were not directly involved in the public outreach process that helped form the plan. This, she said, could potentially set the project back even longer. 'The fact that we are moving back to the design phase of the project by saying 'oh we had a few changes we're just going to put a few more in,' we're effectively going back a year in the process,' Huchel said that he is still confident that the project will remain on track and is hopeful that it will come in under budget. 'The original plan was calling for about 6 million dollars; we hope to be around that same amount, if not lower,' Martynuska said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Yahoo
Johnstown city manager names deputy police chief
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Mark Britton has gone through the Johnstown Police Department system from being a records clerk, patrolman, motorcycle officer, juvenile detective and major crimes detective to now being named the new deputy chief by City Manager Art Martynuska. He will officially begin in the position Monday. 'I'm pretty excited from a guy that came from a records clerk making $6.25 an hour in 1995 to where I'm at now,' said Britton, who also spent years working in the city's Public Works Department as a laborer and later a superintendent. 'I'm pretty excited. I'm blessed.' He will oversee a department that usually has in the range of 35 officers. 'The biggest thing is we're going to all work together,' Britton said. 'We're going to work for a common goal, and I think we're going to be able to do that. We're going to make this department hopefully where it used to be many years ago where officers wanted to start their careers and finish their careers here, like I do.' Britton's goals are to bolster recruitment and retention, bring back the motorcycle officers, grow the K-9 program, boost morale and provide more access to training. 'A lot of ideas,' Britton said. 'We'll see which ones come to light, which I hope they will.' The position opened after Chief Richard Pritchard abruptly resigned in October. Capt. Dan Price has served as interim chief since then. Martynuska kept the search in house because 'obviously, institutional knowledge is a big thing.' '(Britton) is one of our own,' Martynuska said. 'He's shown his dedication to the city. His public service is beyond comparison, and we're happy to have him on board.' Pritchard's title was 'chief.' Britton is 'deputy chief.' The roles are identical as head of the police department. Martynuska said the 'deputy chief' label 'aligns better with our structural scheme.'
