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Lycoming County commissioners approved a Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency subgrant award notification for the Lycoming-Clinton Co-Responder Initiative in the amount of $189,762. The pass-through grant goes to fund a program at the Lycoming-Clinton County Joinder Board to help reduce gun violence.
"There were several options for reducing gun violence. The one we've opted to pursue is a co-responder model that will embed a mental health crisis worker into law enforcement," said Keith Wagner, Joinder executive director.
This grant focuses on the Lycoming Regional Police Department and the Lock Haven City Police Department, since the Joinder is a bi-county agency.
"They will hire mental health crisis workers. They will train the individuals and those individuals will be trained by law enforcement," Wagner said.
"They won't carry weapons but they will carry a radio. They will have a vest and they will get the law enforcement training they need. They will be embedded and they will work out of the law enforcement so they'll be available to travel and co-respond to any law enforcement issue that involves someone with a mental health or drug or alcohol issue," he said.
The hope, he said, is that it will reduce not only gun violence, but also hospitalizations and incarceration.
The commissioners also approved the following action items: an emergency resolution for the replacement of exterior windows on the third and fourth floors of Third Street Plaza at a cost of $74,860; a resolution for the auction on Municibid of surplus computer equipment which has an estimated value in excess of $1,000; an amendment to an agreement with Fred Hamm, Inc. for extra trash services; an agreement with Lycoming Abstract, Inc. to resolve a litigation issue; and amendment to an agreement with Highway Equipment & Supply Inc. for serving Resource Management Services (RMS) vehicles on an as needed basis; the purchase of a 2024 CAT 305 with a 60-inch bucket-ditching tilting from Cleveland Brothers at a cost of $246,943 for RMS with a 2013 model as a trade-in; the purchase of a 2024 CAT 317 mini excavator from Cleveland Brothers at a cost of $68,138 for RMS with a $25,000 trade-in; the submission of the 903 county recycling coordinator program grant application to the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP); and the submission of the 901 municipal solid waste planning grant application to DEP in the amount of $71,000.
A grant submission to the state's Department of Community and Economic Development for COVID-19 American Rescue Plan Act Capital Projects Fund Multi-purpose Community Facilities Program was approved by the commissioners.
The grant would enable renovations on the first floor of Third Street Plaza which are designed to make the first floor offices more accessible for the public. Departments that have higher traffic, such as Veterans' Affairs, the Commissioners' Board Room and Assessment will be located on the first floor. Funds from the grant range from $500,000 to $2 million.
Under personnel, the commissioners approved the following full-time replacements at the rates of pay listed: Limor Hirshberg, senior recruitment specialist in Human Resources, $20.97 per hour; Dante Bloom and Kayla Crawfor, resident supervisors I at the Pre-Release Center, $18.64 per hour each; Michael Minier, sergeant at the Prison, $26.72 per hour; George Sisley, sergeant at the prison, $27.20 per hour; and Robert Renwick, RMS, $20.33 per hour.