Lycoming County Commissioners seeking to buy 3 Penn College properties
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The Lycoming County Commissioners confirmed the county's interest in purchasing three properties from the Pennsylvania College of Technology by approving a letter of intent (LOI) at their meeting this week.
Included in the list of properties is a parcel at 3341 Wahoo Drive, which the commissioners acknowledged is intended to house the county coroner's facilities.
Another property included in the LOI is located at 1359 West Third St., adjacent to the transfer station, and will be used to expand the station.
A property on Fritz Station Road, which consists of approximately 74.83 acres and will be used to do the property conversion at the White Deer Golf Course, was also part of the LOI.
After being approached by Pat Marty, chief governmental & international relations officer at the college, the commissions said they had visited the Wahoo Drive property with the coroner.
"We've examined it and think it's an excellent opportunity to purchase," commissioner Scott Metzger said.
The county has obtained appraisals for the West Third Street property and the parcel at Fritz Station Road, and has ordered an appraisal on the Wahoo Drive site.
A proposed purchase price of $1,286,000 is being offered by the county for all three properties, which breaks down to $535,000 for the West Third Street parcel and $449,000 for Fritz Station Road.
The remaining $302,000 would be for the Wahoo Drive property. The LOI states that the college has "represented that the proposed allocation of the total purchase price for this property...is below an appraisal PCT previously obtained for the property."
Although the commissioners did not reveal the amount of the college's appraisal of the property, Metzger said that the property is "definitely affordable."
In his comments on the action, commissioner Rick Mirabito said, "This is good news because it takes care of three things that we've been working on for a long time."
"The RMS (Resource Management Services) has really wanted to make the changes that they need to make there. We've wanted to sell that land around the golf course, and of course we wanted to get a place for the coroner," Mirabito said.
Previously, the county had looked at a property owned by a local businessman, which, if the county had moved the coroner there, would have been taken off the tax rolls. Metzger noted that by pursuing property owned by the college, there would be no change in tax-exempt status.
Part of the LOI included the county agreeing to provide funding to Penn College to purchase two police cruisers through the Co-Stars program.
A Letter of Intent stated that it is non-binding and simply means that there is a mutual interest by the two parties to pursue a proposed sale. The actual sale of the properties would have to be negotiated.
In other actions during their meeting, the commissioners approved a second amendment to the Emergency Watershed Protection Grant agreement with the Department of Environmental Protection, increasing the amount by $40,632 to a total of $90,782; an Act 137 agreement with Family Promise of Lycoming County for $50,000 for their homeless prevention services; and a subrecipient monitoring agreement with STEP Inc. for $210,000 in Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) funds for STEP's Homes in Need Program.
Under personnel, the commissioners approved hiring the following persons for the positions and rates of pay listed: Sarah Verrastro, full-time replacement, resident supervisor I at the Pre-Release Center, $18.10 per hour; Kasey Phillips, full-time replacement, administrative specialist in the courts, $16.85 per hour; and Daniel Gabbard, part-time new position, correctional officer I at the prison, $20 per hour.
The next meeting of the commissioners will be at 10 a.m., May 4, at the commissioners board room, first floor Executive Plaza, 330 Pine St.