Burns credited with helping to keep Blacklick police on the road
$60K state grant paying for new cruiser in rural township
Rep. Frank Burns October 6, 2026 | 9:43 AM
JOHNSTOWN, Oct. 6 – With Route 422 slicing through the rural township, one of the main reasons Blacklick Township needs local a police force is speed control, according to Supervisor Dan Zanin.
While maintaining a force is a challenge for a roughly 2,000-resident township with a small tax base, Blacklick manages to employ two part-time officers with a stable of two police cruisers. Yet the cruisers are unreliable—one has broken down several times, so they recently bought the second, which is a used vehicle with an uncertain future.
So, when state Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria, recently brought home a state grant of $60,233 for the township to purchase a new cruiser, it was a “huge” help to the police department, Zanin said.
“One of the biggest costs associated with a local police force is vehicles. The other is labor,” Zanin said.
Blacklick has even studied the possibility of joining neighboring municipalities in a regional force, but the study determined it’s not feasible. And township officials don’t see state police as an option because state police are already stretched thin, Zanin said.
This new grant and new cruiser will help keep Blacklick police on the road.
“It’s very important to have a local police force for the township,” Zanin said.
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“I stay in close contact with local officials to make sure they have a voice in Harrisburg. And I work hard to make sure our rural communities like Blacklick Township aren’t overlooked.” – Rep. Burns
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Zanin also credited Burns for stepping up on behalf of small municipalities with limited resources.
“I think he does a lot of great things for areas like ours,” Zanin said.
Burns said he realizes that small, rural municipalities like Blacklick often need the state’s help, and he said it’s particularly important when it comes to funding for first responders.
“I stay in close contact with local officials to make sure they have a voice in Harrisburg,” Burns said. “And I work hard to make sure our rural communities like Blacklick Township aren’t overlooked. No project is too small, as far as I’m concerned, especially when it comes to something as important as keeping police on the road.”
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