Voters in the City of DuBois and nearby Sandy Township in Clearfield County voted in favor of consolidating the two municipalities, according to unofficial results of the 2021 Municipal Elections Tuesday.
The merger passed in DuBois by more than a two-to-one margin with 1,228 votes for and 536 against. It narrowly passed in Sandy Township, whose largest community is Treasure Lake, by 1,574 to 1,541. Passage in both municipalities was required for the consolidation.
Proponents of the merger, like Sandy Township Supervisor Sam Mollica, who led a petition to get the question on the ballot this year, previously told WPSU a consolidation would reduce redundancy in services and save taxpayer money.
“We have common interest here in Dubois and Sandy. We’re already one community now, so I don't see why it would hurt to become one community in reality as far as the government is,” Mollica said.
The consolidation of Sandy, with a population of about 10,500, and DuBois, a city of about 7,500, will create a new third class city under the DuBois name with a seven-member council under the Home Rule Charter.
This is the fourth time a consolidation has been proposed. The question of consolidation was approved three times by city residents and rejected three times by township voters in 1989, 1995 and 2002.
