The county farm at the Lysock Complex in Loyalsock Township. KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

“The (Lycoming) County Farm has been progressing nicely,” said Lycoming County Commissioner Scott Metzger, board chairman.

“We have crops planted out there,” he said. “We have a Farm Committee that is overseeing it,” he said after an action item was taken by commissioners, as presented by Mike Hagen, county director of Human Resources, to revise a policy on Agricultural Commodities by removing the county farmer, which is no longer applicable.

“We are in the process right now of looking at selling the house,” Metzger said. A subdivision application is occurring there to divide the corner lot from the house so they can be sold separately, he noted, adding the hope is to have that done sometime in late summer. He said the county was hoping to have the property on the market sometime in early fall.

“We are very pleased with the Farm Committee and the recommendations they’ve brought to us . . . progression rather nicely,” he said. “We want to thank those volunteers for their time and dedication to be working on this farm – which is the only one in the state,” Metzger said.

“Only one left in the state,” Sortman said. “And to complement what Commissioner Metzger said the Committee has done a great job in turning that around,” Commissioner Marc C. Sortman said. “The barn is cleaned up and nice inside for once,” Sortman said. “Whether they have anything to do with the crops growing well we’ll give that to God,” he said.

Bee hives requested before and training suggested

“Montoursville School District a couple years back wanted to do some bee hives out there. It seems like bee hives have become a very popular, needed thing in our world, not just here in America, so we are looking at doing some enhancements out there but also doing some additional training – because if you are going to have a farm you should utilize it to train your upcoming farmers – not just to have a farm,” Sortman added.

Metzger added how what is nice up there the farm is going to be educational and go right up into the gardens there and what the master gardeners have done is absolutely beautiful. The walking trail there is a great place for kids to learn about the outdoors and the education of farming, Metzger noted.

“We are lucky to have our Committee,” Commissioner Mark Mussina said, adding, “because we are not farmers. We are lucky they came forward just for the good of the county because they’ve really turned the operation around.”

The county will be requesting bids for the repair of fire restrictive coating at Third Street Plaza building.

Under information items:

Clarissa Straub, magisterial district court administration specialist anticipated start July 7.

Aisha Khalid, legal assistant, district attorney office anticipated start date July 7. Khalid was an intern with the public defender’s office last year.

MyaKay Bartman, legal assistant, district attorney office expected to start July 7.

Ryan Ransom, deputy sheriff, expected to start June 30.

Eric Wolfgang, deputy sheriff, effective hire was on May 5.

Salary Board items:

Approved minutes from June 12.

Department of Public Safety – Remove part-time telecommunicator II position from the TDA.

Commissioners’ Office – Reclassify Director of Operations Manager from a pay grade 12 to pay grade 13. Initially, it was at pay grade 15.

Prison – Increase starting pay of Nurse Supervisor to $39 per hour.

Personnel actions as conditional offers of employment:

Facilities Management – Billy Collins, custodial worker, anticipated start July 7.