Blair County Convention Center Board member loses seat

VanBuren, who has been on authority for 25 years, not reappointed to role

The authority that manages the Blair County Convention Center has lost another longtime member who has been a leader in directing the center's financial and personnel actions.

Jamie VanBuren, a Blair County business owner who moved about three years ago to the Reading area of southeastern Pennsylvania to be closer to family, said he filled out the county's talent bank application to retain his seat on the convention center authority.

But when the authority convened its Nov. 19 meeting, VanBuren wasn't there because in October, county commissioners Dave Kessling and Amy Webster chose not to reappoint him and appointed others.

VanBuren, who has been on the authority for about 25 years, said he has no bitterness over the lack of reappointment.

"Please understand that I am grateful to have been appointed five times by the commissioners," VanBuren said. "And I would have stayed on if I had been asked."

While VanBuren now resides outside Blair County, he said he still owns PennStress, a precast structural concrete business in Roaring Spring and provides jobs for about 135 employees.

While VanBuren moved three years ago, that didn't keep him from being an active authority member. He regularly attended authority meetings at the convention center, either in person or via Zoom transmissions. He also regularly presented committee reports and offered input on financial and personnel matters.

"It's been a long, long ride for me on that board and really, I'm very happy with where the convention center stands right now and the personnel in charge," VanBuren said. "Over those years, we've run the convention center like a business and it's paying off. I think we've kept up with maintenance and repairs and the place looks fantastic, as good as it did when it opened."

VanBuren's departure from the nine-member authority will be the loss of a third longtime member in about four years since 2021, when authority Chairman Richard Karcher failed to be reappointed by then-commissioners Bruce Erb, Laura Burke and Amy Webster.

At that time, Burke and Webster spoke of their desire to put new people on county boards. Karcher had been on the authority for 17 years and chairman for about 10 when he was excluded from continued service.

The authority lost a second longtime member in late 2024, when Dan Taddei died on Nov. 16. Taddei had succeeded Karcher as the authority's chair.

The authority is now chaired by Matt Stuckey, who succeeded Taddei and who, at the authority's Nov. 19 meeting, was elected to remain chairman in 2026. Stuckey's appointment to the authority, as commissioners approved in December 2021, remains valid through Nov. 12, 2026.

Others on the nine-member authority, including 2026 officers as approved at the Nov. 19 meeting, are Vice Chairman David Foreman, Secretary-Treasurer Donna Gority and members Pat Miles, Ron Beatty, Bill Sell, Patrick Schurr, Dennis Shreve and Mike Kessling.

The latest appointees

When commissioners Dave Kessling and Amy Webster convened their Oct. 9 meeting, they reappointed Shreve, general manager of the Park Hills Golf Club, to the authority for a five-year term from Nov. 13, 2025, through Nov. 12, 2030. Shreve, who became an authority member in February to fill the seat that Taddei had held, accepted an appointment that was valid only until Nov. 13, 2025, when Taddei's term would end.

Kessling said he supported Shreve's reappointment based on Shreve's experience in the food service industry, which should be a valuable resource for the convention center.

Also at the Oct. 9 meeting, Kessling and Webster voted to name Mike Kessling, the Altoona Curve director of marketing, to the convention center authority for a five-year term through Nov. 12, 2030. Their fellow commissioner, Laura Burke, was absent from that meeting.

While Mike Kessling is Commissioner Dave Kessling's nephew, Commissioner Kessling said he voted in favor of the appointment because Mike Kessling has shown great leadership through his work with the Curve and other local boards.

"His appointment is a way to get younger people committed to the community," Kessling said.

Kessling also acknowledged that before voting, he wondered if he should vote on his nephew's appointment and asked Webster, who provided him with no reason against it.

The state's Public Official and Employees Ethics Act prohibits elected leaders from voting on conflict of interest matters involving immediate family members, but that doesn't include a nephew or nephew's spouse. In 2012, the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission issued an advisory letter at the request of a Penn Forest Township supervisor in eastern Pennsylvania, allowing him to vote on a matter involving his nephew's spouse. The commission said the act defined immediate family as a parent, spouse, child, brother or sister.

The letter also, in response to the Penn Forest supervisor's inquiry, defined a conflict of interest as excluding "action having a de minimis economic impact." Commissioner Kessling's vote would likely qualify for that exclusion, too, as convention center authority members aren't paid.

How to get on a county board

In recent years, commissioners have encouraged those interested in serving on boards and authorities to submit applications which remain available on the county's website at www.blairco.org.

Those applying for appointments and reappointments serve at the pleasure of the commissioners who rely on tactics outside public meetings to determine which candidates will be put on their agendas for appointment. While they've publicly encouraged local residents to apply, they typically don't engage in discussing why they prefer one candidate over another.

When Karcher didn't get reappointed to the convention center authority in December 2021, commissioners spoke of relying on a point system to individually rank six candidates seeking appointment or reappointment to the convention center authority. The three candidates with the most points -- Gority,

Stuckey and Foreman -- went onto the commissioners meeting agenda and garnered approval without public discussion.

Kessling, who succeeded Erb, said he believes the county should be drawing new people and younger people into county operations.

"Is there a need for a change, a fresh perspective ... some fresh blood," he asked. "I think there is."

Kessling also referenced VanBuren's out-of-county residence as a factor against his reappointment.

"No, I don't live there anymore," VanBuren acknowledged. "But I've been working as hard as I could to keep that place a five-star facility with great service and a great future."

Time equals experience

VanBuren's experience and historical knowledge of the convention center's operations date back to the efforts leading up to the center's grand opening in May 2001. He was also on the authority in 2013 for a major transition, when the authority started managing the convention center instead of depending on Explore Altoona to handle the role.

Kessling said he wasn't troubled by the loss of experience that the authority members have provided.

"We're looking toward the future as we make these appointments," Kessling said. "They don't all come up at the same time so this gives (Shreve and Mike Kessling) time to get some experience."

VanBuren, who said he recalls his early days on the authority, said he is ending his service with only positive feelings for what he was able to contribute and accomplish.

While the county has regularly allocated bed tax revenue to support the center's marketing efforts, the center typically generates more than enough revenue to cover operating expenses and it has a healthy reserve that can be tapped to pay for upgrading the facility and capital expenses.

"The authority's focus over the years has always been on trying to run the convention center like a business and I think we've been able to hold onto that vision," VanBuren said. "I know I never wanted to have the commissioners have to put general fund tax dollars into that facility."

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.