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Commissioners seek to lower county payroll

Despite approving a new part-time position within the county Monday, Lycoming County commissioners continue to insist they must tighten up staff numbers.

Over $33,000 will be saved with inhouse bookkeeping, according to a report.

The county paid James V. Brown Library $75,000 every year from 2006 to 2017 to keep the law records. Of that budget, $25,000 went to a part-time law clerk who said he could only spend around 10 percent of his time working on the law library.

Law clerks would assist in the setup of the library, but have now moved on.

“Due to unforeseen retirements and resignations of law clerks, there is no experienced staff to manage the library moving forward,” said one report.

The position will help the courts run more efficiently, helping with the backlog of cases, said Commissioner Rick Mirabito. However, the county must remain vigilant to ensure that more positions are not added.

“They can’t give out legal advice, but what they can do is to make sure that they have the correct forms and the correct materials they need,” he said.

The Law Library is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and open Tuesday and Thursday by appointment.

The creation or refilling of county government positions need to be justified, said Commissioner Tony Mussare, pointing out the recent elimination of a full-time work crew foreman position.

“I think it’s important for the public to understand that we are taking the (Early Intervention Program) report very seriously, as far as how to reduce the expense to the county taxpayers,” he said.

The commissioners should be diligent to reduce government spending, said Mussare, and the county department heads should be aware that they will be scrupulous.

“We must assure the taxpayers that the people we have working in this county are productive and that there’s a reason why they’re here,” he said.

In other business, the commissioners:

• Approved a professional service agreement with Barr Construction LLC for $16,990 to replace the main roof of the Lysock complex in Loyalsock.

• Awarded the Hughesville Streambank Protection Project to Mitchell Knorr Contracting for $169,501.

• Awarded the joint replacement project for a county-owned bridge to Minichi Inc. for $174,000.

• Approved a professional service agreement with Ronald K. Wright for services on a case-by-case basis with the public defender’s office.

• Awarded contracts for inmate detention supply products to Bob Barker Company, Inc. and Victory Supply, Inc. on a per item basis.

• Approved a professional service agreement with Clear Vision for juvenile probation placements

• Approved a purchase agreement of additional Microsoft licensing for $21,167.52.

All members were present.

The next scheduled meeting is at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Executive Plaza, 330 Pine St.

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