As officials consider relocating City Hall administrative offices to the third floor of Trade and Transit Centre I, the ad hoc committee for City Hall met Tuesday with Community Theatre League officials, which uses the third floor of the transit building for its educational programs and some of its secondary theatrical performances.

As the decision is weighed by Mayor Derek Slaughter, Councilman Adam Yoder, committee chairman, said he invited Seth Sponhouse, league executive director, and Andree Phillips, of the league, to share with the committee the league’s history, evolution and programs it provides to youths and adults.

The history, Phillips said, was necessary to provide the committee and administration insight because it has drafted conceptual designs and taking tours of the third floor with CTL officials.

“In 1997-’98, CTL outgrew its Washington Boulevard site,” Phillips said. Shortly afterward, a campaign began and property contiguous with Helmrich’s Seafood on Fifth Street was purchased, Phillips said.

“We tore down a building, prepared to break ground and had Tony Visco (architect) do a rendering,” Phillips said.

About that time, the league was approached about moving into the Trade and Transit I, she said.

“The (transit) building was not finished by any means,” Phillips said. Walk-throughs were done to determine if the space inside was adequate for the theatre league.

At this time, the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania presented the league with a lead gift of $300,000 and pledged that money if the theatre dropped the plan for the site on Fifth Street and would move into Trade and Transit I, Phillips said.

“Downtown was undergoing a revitalization,” she said.

In these years, the Pickelner Arena was constructed. The Joseph McDade Transit I Centre was finally completed and was built in large part using state Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration funds, Phillips said.

The league worked closely with William E. Nichols Jr., former city finance director and general manager of River Valley Transit, as well as others on a deal, she said.

Eventually, the league signed a lease in 1999 with the city for 29 years to be in the first floor of the Trade and Transit I. It remained in the bottom floor, with its theater-in-the-round, since then.

Over the years, the theater also was used for political forums during election years.

The transit facility’s third and second floors served as the headquarters for the Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce until that organization moved out in 2015, according to Phillips and Jason Fink, chamber president and executive director.

By then, the league was searching for other space and was approached with the option of a third-floor lease amendment, Phillips said.

“It was not a new lease, but an amendment to the lease,” she said.

At that point, with support of River Valley Transit doing remodeling and making it happen, “everything seemed to be, as far as we knew it, and as one of the largest tenants, kosher,” Phillips said.

Sponhouse carried on the conversation, updating the committee on the five-year anniversary of the amended lease.

He said between June and August of 2019, the league had several in-person meetings with River Valley Transit, Nichols and other RVT employees.

“Moving through the fall of 2019, CTL was dealing with a lease manager and setting up final details of a renewal of amendment to tie it into the 29-year lease,” Sponhouse said.

But then things took a turn, he said.

“Talks ceased between December and February,” he said. Nichols was no longer working for the city, dismissed by Slaughter in January.

In February, the league lost “all connections to RVT,” Sponhouse said.

After “multiple phone calls to Adam Winder, who was appointed general manager of River Valley Transit by Slaughter, the discussions dried up, he said.

“We kind of went unreached out to,” Sponhouse said. “Phone calls all went unanswered.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, through March to August, CTL had six to eight “unmasked and

unannounced visits” from city department heads, council members and “quite frankly, were being rude to CTL staff.”

“We were told, ‘We’re on space utilization trips,'” Sponhouse said.

The league learned about the city administration’s plans to possibly use the third floor space then and the rendering was disheartening,” he said.

“Our third floor is the educational wing,” Sponhouse said. The league puts on the Penguin Project and Spotlight programs for young and adult special needs, and has a studio theater there with its own ticket buyers and sponsors, he said.

It has after-school programs, summer camps and offers hundreds of students programs throughout the year.

The virus has not impacted the programs because the league switched to virtual educational classes, he said.

The leased space on the third floor offers resources and internships with local colleges that nobody else has, he said.

The league offers Give a Kid a Seat program that exposes low-income families to the arts free. Evening with a Star and some Ray of Light programming also are done using third-floor resources and space, he said.

“It’s blow after blow,” Sponhouse said.

Councilwoman Liz Miele said it sounded like CTL had a right to be upset.

“If you and Gerardi can set up letter of intent and move forward, it’s a procedural issue,” she said.

Gerardi said he has to displace the league when the tour of the third floor revealed fire safety hazards and could with no occupancy permit.

But at the end of the discussion, Sponhouse agreed to write the letter to Gerardi and the league’s intention for continuing to use the third floor.

Slaughter said until the matter on the amended lease is approved by PennDOT and FTA and council, it’s going to be in progress.

“What we know now, we will do everything to make sure it is done correctly,” Slaughter said.

The next steps may not be revealed publicly until council and the league are ready.

“We should be in a negotiation and that should be done in executive session,” Miele said.