Forging partnerships with downtown Williamsport businesses, celebrating liveable wage job growth at an energy business in the Industrial Park, and seeking meaningful statewide tax reform.

These are among the accomplishments, projects and goals of Williamsport Mayor Derek Slaughter and the city administrative team, who recently sat down for a video interview to update the public. The team and mayor described many projects under way or planned and how they are trying to find creative ways to position Williamsport for a prosperous future despite challenging financial times with tight budgetary restraints. Staff interviewed included Bill Scott, city engineer and Valerie Fessler, director of the city Department of Community and Economic Development. Sitting in the room listening were Melanie Shutt, city grants administrator, and Scott Williams, city planner and assistant director of the city Department of Community and Economic Development.

President of the

Pennsylvania Municipal League

As president of the Pennsylvania Municipal League through October, Slaughter said the league, across the board, is working on many issues with the state legislature, from housing to local use of radar, to infrastructure and local tax reform. Many of these, he said, could positively impact the city.

He specified a bipartisan co-sponsorship by state Reps. Jamie Flick, R-South Williamsport, representing parts of Union and Lycoming counties, and Ismail Smith-Wade-El, D-Lancaster. They have proposed an increase to the local services tax (LST).

The tax is capped at $52. The future legislation would increase the cap to $156, providing all municipalities with the option to decide if an increase would help their fiscal outlook, according to the summary on the General Assembly website.

“Why they started with local services tax is it is specifically for public safety, roads and bridges,” Slaughter said. “Those funds have to go directly to public safety and to infrastructure that is critical for local government, for our residents and for our city,” he said.

“That is not saying we would increase it to $156,” Slaughter explained. The reason for that figure is if a city is distressed, the state gives it the option to take it up to $156, he noted.

“What we are saying is give it to us upfront, so we don’t have to go into distressed status, and we are able to, hopefully, balance some of our budget, but at least put some stop gap funding in place,” he said. “That is not saying we would increase it to $156,” he reiterated. “Even if we bump it a little bit, that is going to have a significant impact to our budget.”

“It is always about bringing resources back to our community,” said Slaughter of his leadership role in the league through October. Slaughter is the first mayor in the history of Williamsport to serve as president of the league which he said is “humbling and truly an honor.”

“Having said that you don’t just want to sit in that position just to sit in it you have to actually want to get some things accomplished,” Slaughter said.

“It’s exciting, it’s humbling and it’s been a lot of fun serving as president of the Pennsylvania Municipal League this year . . . very, very busy but very rewarding.”

Economic development

Chick-fil-A on Maynard Street will be opening soon. Wawa opened in January.

The mayor was asked if there were any other economic development opportunities on the city radar that do not violate any kind of confidentiality agreements.

“We are exploring some things,” he said.

Speaking from a regional perspective, Bass Pro is coming to Muncy Township.

“A lot of times I will go to things outside of the city and people ask ‘Why am I there?’ but we have to look – a rising tide lifts all boats,” he said.

If something is happening in Muncy or Jersey Shore, or wherever that naturally has a benefit for Williamsport, he noted.

“Here in the city we are always exploring economic development,” he said.

Prysmian Group recently cut the ribbon on their new $22 million expansion.

This added another 30 or so jobs, those of which are supporting the Grain Belt Express – an electricity grid in the Midwest.

“They are looking, potentially, to do some other things down the road but to have American energy, American jobs, American equipment made right here in Williamsport that is going to power the Grain Belt Express,” he said.

The city played a small part in investing in that expansion. It was very meaningful and, of course, important for the business, and for what it means for providing good-paying and liveable wage jobs here in Lycoming County and Williamsport.

Slaughter was present at the ribbon-cutting and spoke and he also on the video interview thanked Prysmian Group and Invenergy, the company that owns the Grain Belt Express, for their investment in Williamsport.

He also thanked the companies for investing in the energy grid, which, he said, “we all know is a hot topic at the moment. It needs to be reliable, safe and secure.”

He continued: “Knowing that safety, security and reliability is coming right out of Williamsport, at least a large portion of it now, is very good news for us.”

Small businesses needs

“The administration is working closely with the Williamsport Business Association and Explore Williamsport to learn more about what they consider some of the barriers to being successful downtown businesses, ways the city can partner with them to improve the downtown, whether or not it is pedestrian safety or making a small tweak in an ordinance to make something work better for them,” Fessler said.

“We’ve been having wonderful conversations with them,” she said.

“We are actually exploring a partnership with Bucknell University to have students there do a strategic plan for our downtown so that we can talk about making the downtown more appealing, and (have businesses to want to be in downtown Williamsport),” she said.

“We will be working with Penn College this fall,” Slaughter said. He was cautious not to “get the cart in front of the horse,” but the city is working with a few professors and students over there,” he said. One of their classes this fall is looking at rebranding for Williamsport, for our parks, for our businesses, and for our community as a whole and having that as a student project in the fall,” Slaughter said.

It could involve including merchandise logos suggested that would need to go through a legal process. “But that is all very exciting to work with them,” Slaughter said.

As Fessler noted, Slaughter said the team is eager to work with the city businesses throughout the community, “seeing what their needs are, how we can assist, and how we can continue to grow.”