Trending
Lycoming County government is exploring the purchase of a building in the Newberry section of Williamsport for a county-level public safety building.
The search originates from a need to find County Coroner Charles E. Kiessling Jr. a new location to replace the limited space he has -- a problem the pandemic has only exacerbated -- and it could bring multiple, related county operations under one roof.
The property is located "near the Brodart building," according to Commissioner Scott Metzger, who said it would accommodate the county's central processing, DUI and supervised bail centers while returning the district judge office served by Christian Frey back to its roots in Newberry.
"That would be the most cost-effective way of assisting those departments and make it more cost-effective for taxpayers," Metzger said. "Those are the entities you do not put in a public building. It has to be in a public safety building."
"That building is like an open canvass," Kiessling said. "The ceilings are high enough."
For years, Kiessling has advocated for more space and resources for his office, which at times has not been able to meet the demands of its
workload. This was particularly problematic at the height locally of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kiessling is located within Executive Plaza. His office has limited space, employees do not have dedicated parking, and the building lacks sufficient decontamination areas for when the coroner and his personnel are exposed to deceased people who were COVID-positive.
The county morgue, however, is located on UPMC's campus. Kiessling said its refrigeration unit is 18 years old and is getting to the end of its life.
The coroner's storage facilities are also limited. Kiessling said he has to store PPE in the morgue's family room.
"I'm bringing in families to identify their deceased relatives and having them wait in the same room I am storing protective equipment," Kiessling said.
Meanwhile, Frey's office is in a leased building on West Fourth Street, the DUI center is at UPMC Williamsport, central processing is stationed in Old Lycoming Township and the supervised bail center is at the county prison.
The building under consideration, a one-floor, 24,000-square-foot space near the Brodart building in Newberry, has plenty of space to accommodate those entities' needs and more, Metzger said.
Kiessling has been urging county and city authorities to invest in the coroner's office for years.
"Our personnel are working around COVID-positive deceased and do not have places to shower or decontaminate vehicles," Kiessling said. "We have to run home, strip off our clothes, immediately shower and hope we do not get our families sick."
Meanwhile, merging several entities into one building means reduced costs, according to Metzger.
Instead of having an information technology worker at each building, the organizations can pool their resources and share one technology specialist throughout the building, among examples of potential cost savings.
"We can't continue to go down the road where everyone has duplications of the same thing. We need to start sharing services," Metzger said. "We can't just keep putting one entity in separate buildings."
There is discord on that point among the commissioners, however.
Commissioner Tony Mussare said he is less likely to support a larger project because of the potential costs.
"We've been looking for a place for the coroner for years and have not been able to find him a home," Mussare said. "One of the reasons we cannot is because we keep trying to incorporate other entities within that building."
Mussare is concerned the costs of a combined building will be too heavy of a burden on taxpayers, especially during the ongoing pandemic.
The commissioners only recently settled on a building for District Judge William Solomon after trying to fit in the coroner's office, according to Commissioner Richard Mirabito. Mirabito said the commissioners struggled to find a location that met both Solomon and Kiessling's respective needs.
"Magistrate Solomon had to be on a bus line, had to have police coverage and be within his court's geographic jurisdiction," Mirabito said.
But finding a location that could meet that need and also accommodate the coroner was easier said than done, according to Mirabito.
Mirabito said the commissioners bounced among several locations, trying to find one that checked all the boxes on what both Solomon and Kiessling's offices needed, but to no avail.
"In some ways, combining use in buildings is a help and hindrance. Finally, we found something for Magistrate Solomon and took it," Mirabito said.
"I would see it more likely to be passed if it was a stand-alone project, one that we already took a bond out of close to a million dollars for the magistrate and coroner each," Mussare said.
Kiessling is not holding his breath.
"I'm 60, I've been fighting this battle for 20 years, and I may be dead before it's over," Kiessling said.
Metzger wants to combine different entities into the Newberry building to help leverage more grant funding to reduce the financial impact on taxes.
"We have to start to regionalize, consolidate and leverage our dollars in order to get things done," Metzger said. "The more entities you can bring together, the more opportunity you have at attaining grants. If we can attain those grants to assist other agencies, it will save everyone money."
Looking at the bigger picture, Metzger said he wants to see some of the county's buildings emptied and offices consolidated and sell off the unused buildings to make the most of the county's properties.
"We want something we can own for … 30 to 40 years," Metzger said. "We're getting near the finish line, but we haven't crossed it."
He also acknowledged the coroner's frustrations.
"We need to find him a building. But if we can do it with him and more departments and entities, it makes more sense for the taxpayer."
If the Newberry building is appraised and does not fit within the county's price range, Kiessling is not necessarily out of luck.
South Williamsport Borough Manager Steven W. Cappelli has assured the county that South Williamsport will be more than willing to provide accommodation to the coroner's office if the Newberry building does not work out.
"If it does not come to fruition, I have indicated we would look to further adjust the design of our building to make accommodations for the coroner," Capelli said.
For their part, the other two commissioners seem to be on board with that plan.
"As long as we had a memorandum of understanding that we would contribute money toward that building and it would be rent-free, I would entertain that possibility," Mussare said.
"If it's a location and it works, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to that. We'd have to see if there's room for growth in the future because we might have growth," Mirabito said.
Metzger said the county will not see an accurate price tag on the Newberry building until after its appraisal is complete, which will occur before the end of June. At that point, the commissioners will know if it will work or if they need to find alternatives.
"We are exploring different options as we go," Metzger said.