Lycoming County commissioners hold off on $25M Arctaris investment decision
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The Lycoming County commissioners put out a call for the public to comment on a proposal from an investment group offering to put money into improving areas of the city last week. This week, they got their answers during an almost three-hour meeting.
The issue centers around a proposal from Arctaris Impact Investors LLC, Boston, which calls for a $1.25 million investment each from the county, the city, the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania and the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce while Arctaris would invest $20 million, for a total investment to the community of $25 million.
That money would be used in federal opportunity zones in the City of Williamsport for things such as community-centric real estate, including downtown revitalization projects, such as mixed use residential, retail, commercial or industrial projects; and construction operation of real estate that supports health outcomes such as grocery stores in food deserts or health facilities with an emphasis on underserved communities in the target investment area it was stated at a previous meeting when the proposal was first introduced.
"This is a fund that invests in qualified opportunity zones. That's as a result of the tax act that was passed in 2017 by President (Donald) Trump to try to bring economic development via the private sector to communities that basically are poor," said Commissioner Rick Mirabito.
Two of the four entities involved with vetting the project had representatives at the meeting and spoke positively of the proposal.
To dispel any rumors circulating that the project would include an abortion clinic, Williamsport City Council President Adam Yoder, who was joined by fellow councilman Eric Beiter said, "The meetings that I've been in, (that) has not ever been brought up."
"What we've primarily talked about is market rate housing," Yoder said.
"All of the programs that our community relies on are housed in the city. The amount of nonprofits doing good things are housed in the city. That takes off the tax rolls," Yoder said.
"When we get an opportunity like this, we're excited about it...this benefits the city," he added.
The loss of population in the county, which in turn affects the tax burden, is a topic often brought up by Mirabito.
His fellow commissioner, Scott Metzger challenged that idea, but Yoder cited that as one reason Arctaris' proposal makes sense.
"I believe a lot of what we've done in the past has yielded some pretty positive results, but we need to do more. Our population continues to bleed and that phrase, 'the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results' -- this is a good opportunity for innovation in our local community development," Yoder said.
One complaint about the proposal is that Arctaris has the final say on what will be done with the investment.
In addition to questioning whether the county is losing population, Commissioner Scott Metzger said that he would like to have clearly defined parameters of how the money would be spent before committing county funds.
"Anyone who's a business person will not give $1.25 million of their own money, let alone somebody else's money, to something that they don't know what's going to happen," Metzger said.
"These individuals are very smart people. They're here to make money, that's the reason they're doing it. They want a return on their money and they should get a return on their money. But it may not be what the city of Williamsport needs and wants," Metzger said.
On the other side of the discussion, Yoder said, "What excites me about it is the fact that we don't know exactly what they're going to do. We can tell them what we need and communicate the needs of this community, which is our job. And we know deeply what the needs of this community are. They're going to come up with how best to do it."
Commissioner Tony Mussare weighed in explaining that parameters would have to be set in any agreement with Arctaris.
"What do we want to see in our community? What's going to benefit? So what we're going to do is we're going to meet and say, here are our restrictions, our parameters. Then Arctaris takes that information and at that time if we all agree, we're going to pay into that fund," he said.
"What I love about this is that the infusion of $25 million going into our City of Williamsport, which is the county seat, is critical...I do know that it will better our community as long as they stay within those parameters," he said.
In general, the public comments were more skewed toward Metzger's argument, that Arctaris is an unknown entity and no one knows what the investment will be used for.
A few mentioned the rumor that an abortion clinic would be built. They said that they had researched Arctaris and they "embrace the DEI ESG (Diversity, equity, inclusion, environmental impact, social responsibility and corporate governance) concept.
"Frankly, nobody that I know wants the minority community to better themselves more than me, but at the end of the day we will have to answer to our businesses in this county," said Don Peters, Cummings Township.
Peters also stated that he knew someone who lived in Erie, where Arctaris had done this kind of project before, and that they had nothing but praise for the work done.
"Once we know what they're going to do in Lycoming County, even though I'm not going to benefit from it as a resident of Cummings Township, I say go for it once we get the answers we're seeking," Peters said.
The commissioners tabled any action on Arctaris until they receive a written proposal from the group.