What is the IRC?

The Intermunicipal Relations Committee (IRC) is a council of governments (COG) consisting of the City of Altoona, Logan Township, Tyrone Borough and Hollidaysburg Borough.  The IRC was initially established as the Intermunicipal Recycling Committee in 1990 to address the needs of the member municipalities related to recycling and compsoting required by Pennsylvania Act 101 of 1988.  The name was changed in 1997 to reflect a desire by the member municipalities to undertake other intermunicipal issues.

Why does a COG make sense?

Sometimes critics of COGs mistakenly think they add another layer of government and bureacracy to an already bloated government system. While redundancy can happen when entities work together, COGs usually bring several efficiencies to local government efforts like recycling.  Here's why.

• COGs can afford to hire specialized staff. Smaller local governments especially are unable to hire individual staff people for very specific programs. When several join together and pool their resources, the group can afford to hire staff qualified for that specific sort of work. 

• Program uniformity makes sense and is cost effective. Especially in a program like recycling, where public education is important, a unified and consistent message makes sense.  In the IRC, all the municipalilties collect the same recyclable materials, require the same kinds of business and public area recycling provisions, and collect yard waste in a similar fashion.

• Cooperative ventures = Better grant funding opportunities. Especially in DEP's recycling grant funding program, multi-municipal programs are given priority over individual municipal funding requests.

• Special programs are more cost effective when done cooperatively. Our composting operation, household hazardoous waste collections, electronics recycling program and other special waste programs would often be cost prohibitive for individual muncipalities to undertake. Especially with the closure of the county's recycling office, these cooperative programs have survived becasue the IRC has been able to sponsor them and make them available to everyone.

The IRC Board

Each member municipality has one vote on the board of the IRC.  An elected official from each municipal governing body is the primary voting representative and the municipal manager serves as a proxy in the event of the absence of the elected official.

• City of Altoona - Councilman Erik Cagle, Manager Marla Marcinko
• Logan Township - Supervisor Jim Patterson, Manager Tim Brown
• Tyrone Borough - Councilwoman Michelle Miller, Interim Manager Kim Gurekovich 
• Hollidaysburg Borough - Councilman Patrick Plummer, Manager Jim Gehret

2017 Meeting Schedule

The IRC Board meetings are open to the public.  The meetings are at 4:30 p.m. (except May's meeting will begin at 3:00 p.m.).  They are held in the Altoona City Hall 4th floor conference room located at 1301 - 12th Street.

• March 28
• April 25
• May 23
• June 27
• August 22
• September 26
• October 24
• November 21
• December 19

Policy Recommendations

The IRC makes recommendations to the member municipalities from time to time when changes in ordinances or related guidelines seem necessary and appropriate.  The individual municipal governing bodies (city council, borough council or the township board of supervisors) will then act on the IRC recommendations, facilitating cooperation and uniformity while preserving autonomy.  The municipalities have made every attempt to maintain uniform recycling programs and collect the same materials at the curbside.

IRC Partnering Municpalities

In addition to its voting members, the IRC has partnered with several other municipalities to bring recycling and composting to other parts of Blair County. The IRC Partners provide for recycling drop-off and/or composting and include:

• Allegheny Township
• Antis Township
• Blair Township
• Duncansville Borough
• Frankstown Township
• Williamsburg Borough
• Martinsburg Area
  • Martinsburg Borough
  • Huston Township
  • North Woodbury Township

How Can We Contact the IRC?

The IRC maintains an office in Altoona City Hall, 1301 - 12th Street, Altoona, PA 16601.  The staff can be reached by phone (942-7472) or e-mail.

• Executive Director - John Frederick ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ).
• Education and Enforcement Coordinator - Katrina Pope ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
• Facility Manager - John Keith ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
• Operations Assistant - Ron "Bub" Neely
• Operations and Enforcement Assistant - Gabe Hall

IRC Recycling and Compost Facilities

The IRC COG also now operates the Buckhorn and Duncansville Recycling & Compost Facilities.