Boozel to receive state award
County Commissioner Kevin Boozel will receive an award from Gov. Tom Wolf in April.
Boozel was selected for the 2022 Governor’s Award for Local Government Excellence, an honor the governor states is for officials who show “dedication and commitment to strengthen their communities and better serve their residents.”
Wolf will present Boozel with the award in Harrisburg on April 13.
Although the state is yet to announce the award’s recipients, Leslie Osche, county commissioners chairwoman, said Wednesday that Boozel was set to receive the award, which Boozel later confirmed was the local government excellence award.
In addition to serving as Butler County commissioner, Boozel was president of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania in 2021.
He now serves as chairman of that association’s board of directors. Commissioner Kim Geyer also serves on the board and is the chairwoman of the county governance committee.
While serving as the association’s president, Boozel said, he was able to set up regular information sessions with Wolf and various county commissioners, something he said was particularly useful as the COVID-19 pandemic stretched into its third year.
Boozel said Butler County served as an example for the state’s distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to congregate living settings. Rather than send residents of such facilities — primarily older Pennsylvanians — to a clinic twice in the span of two or three weeks, Boozel said the county spearheaded the effort to bring the shots to the seniors.
“It’s those kinds of ideas that are meaningful,” Boozel said. “I’m proud to be from Butler County and have that kind of input on a state level.”
The most recent Butler County recipient of the award is Dave Zarnick, a Butler Township commissioner who received the honor in 2020.
“I’m very honored to even have been nominated for that award,” Boozel said. “The fact that they selected me is very humbling.”
