A state cabinet member visited Tamaqua on Thursday to get a feel for challenges facing the community and to better understand elements of success helping to revitalize the town.

Dennis M. Davin, 53, secretary of Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, launched a whirlwind tour of Schuylkill County with an early morning stop in Orwigsburg, meeting with members of the Schuylkill County Chamber of Commerce.Then it was on to Tamaqua for midmorning coffee at the Tamaqua Station Restaurant hosted by state Sen. David Argall, R-29, and Micah Gursky, director of the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership.Both spoke of initiatives that have improved the community."When people drive through town today, they get a much better impression than 20 years ago," said Gursky to Davin, as he welcomed him along with a handful of local business representatives and county economic development officials."It's like night and day," said Davin, a former economic development director in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.ChallengesArgall spoke of the town's unique location "in the middle of four mountains."The rugged natural terrain can be a scenic tourist draw but also can limit potential for industrial or economic growth.Market forces also can take a toll. In the coal regions, that toll has been felt for generations, maybe even close to a century."The peak year for coal was 1917," Argall said.Gursky told Davin that the community lost 1,000 jobs when textile giant Morgan Mills in Hometown closed and another 1,200 in the decline of Atlas Powder Company in Reynolds.Despite Tamaqua's challenges, the county's largest borough is held up as one of Pennsylvania's examples of small-town rebirth sparked by public-private initiative.Argall said the secret to Tamaqua's success has been determination."It's a town that doesn't give up."Successful revitalization often utilizes many different tools. In Tamaqua's case, it included a Main Street Program, Elm Street Program and Keystone Opportunity Zones. All were among topics of discussion.For instance, businessman Joe Pilla said he took advantage of KOZ initiatives to expand his insurance operation."We hired six employees, from one," said Pilla, who continues to move forward with momentum.In the next week or two, Pilla will unveil a new enterprise, an ice cream shop called the Station Creamery, located at the north side of the 1874 Tamaqua depot in the former Railway Express Agency offices. The place will feature Leiby's ice cream served at cafe tables and a walk-up window for takeouts.He expects to be fully up and running at the Station Creamery before the Tamaqua Summerfest set for June 19.CRIZOne of the main areas of discussion was the City Revitalization Improvement Zone.In 2015, Tamaqua became the first borough in Pennsylvania to be awarded inclusion into the commerce-building program.It allows a town to create a financing authority to be used to leverage state tax dollars in a way that launches private investment in under-utlilized properties.More simply, the CRIZ program would allow Tamaqua to keep its tax dollars to spark commercial growth.The CRIZ process is still in its infancy and there are growing pains, key among them is education, along with the importance of adapting to program requirements.Davin said Lancaster has over 700 businesses but "they don't know what it is."He said "companies can get fined $1,000 for something they don't know about."Lancaster, he said, was hoping to see tens of thousands of dollars reinvested through CRIZ but so far "there was an $1,800 benefit."After a brief tour of the downtown area, the group drove to a combination active/abandoned acid mine drainage site on South Center Street."When I was a kid, we played baseball here," said Argall, referring to days when the site was largely coal land and silt banks.The area deteriorated into today's yellow-colored pond about a decade or so ago when coal company mine pumps stopped working.The visit to the site was part of a tell-it-like-it-is tour in which Argall had promised Davin exposure to the good, the bad and the ugly."This is ugly," Davin said, his eyes scanning a scarred, defaced section of what otherwise would be the lower end of mountainside forest.By noon, Davin was on his way to Mahanoy City for a similar tour of that community.Davin was appointed to the position by Gov. Tom Wolf in June 2015.