County rescinds $1 million in funding for ‘Old City’ project
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Approval of over $1 million in funding for a project in the Old City section of Williamsport was rescinded by the Lycoming County Commissioners at their meeting this week.
The funding had been requested by Old City Williamsport LLC, a partnership of Lycoming College and Pine Ridge Construction for the East End Gateway project mixed plan for revitalization. The funding, which had originally been approved by the former Board of Commissioners in July, 2022, was for $1,012,240 in Act 13 monies.
"We're revisiting this because back on July 28, 2022 previous board had voted to approve this to the Old City Project partnership between Lycoming College and Pine Ridge construction. We are still very much in favor of the Old City project. This is no reflection on us not supporting that. What it is, is that this original plan, especially regarding the parking garage, which the monies were supposed to be allocated for is not moving forward and it's going on two years," said Commissioner Chairman Scott Metzger.
"So this board felt that we have projects that are ready to be moved out on and it's best to utilize monies for those projects. I had a conversation with the chancellor up at Lycoming College and advised him that we're still supportive of the project and if they have further plans moving forward, come back to us and we can revisit it and we'd be glad to talk with him about future funding. But, at this time we're asking to rescind this vote," he said.
The project had included a parking structure featuring 165 stalls, residential townhomes and commercial space.
The county's contribution to the overall cost of the parking structure ws to be 3.8% with Williamsport expected to contribute 3.1% and the state 4%. The college and the developer would provide the remaining funding.
At the time the vote was taken, Metzger had been on vacation and was not included in the discussions or the vote and had expressed at that time dissatisfaction with the way the vote was handled.
When asked by someone from the public at the meeting if the procedure that had been used to approve the funding had influenced the desire to now rescind it, Metzger said it had not.
In other actions this week, the commissioners approved the following items: a change order with Spencer Mechanical for $742 to relocate sprinkler heads; awarding $15,580 in Act 13 funds to Susquehanna Health Foundation and $20,000 in Act 13 funds to the Mansfield Police Department's police academy; a subrecipient agreements with the Lycoming County United Way for $153,114 for their homeless assistance program; a renewal agreement with Kenneth Osokow for legal service to the District Attorney's office at $100 per hour; a PCoRP (Pennsylvania Counties Risk Pool) grant application for an annual allocation for $30,000, an annual allocation to help provide, among other things, the regular maintenance of the automated external defibrillators (AED's) in the county; the purchase of a dump trailer from Best Line Equipment for $12,363; the purchase of a new transmission for the 2017 Volvo wheel loader from Highway Equipment and Supply Company at a cost of $134,885 for Resource Management Services (RMS); purchase of a 2023 service truck from Ascendence Truck Center in the amount of $188,607 for RMS; the purchase of a Crop Care ATX150 with 30 inch hydraulic boom from Rovendale Ag & Barn for $14,983 for RMS; and a five-year waste disposal contract with FCC Allenwood which will generate $132,137 base year estimated maximum.
Under personnel, the commissioners approved filling the following full-time positions at the rates of pay listed: David Seldon, correction officer at the prison, $20 per hour; Sue Clayton, Deputy of Domestic Relations, $73,085 per year; and Robert Harvey, work crew foreman at RMS.
The next commissioners' meeting will be at 10 a.m. May 23, in the Commissioner's Board Room, 1st floor Executive Plaza, 330 Pine St.