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Williamsport City Council appears to be leaning toward a decision on condemned City Hall at 245 W. Fourth St. by considering moving toward selling the property and leasing space inside the historic structure completed in 1891.
Councilman Jon Mackey said there will be another fall and winter to heat the building, a cost officials said was $20,000. He clarified with Council President Adam Yoder what the intention of the consensus on council was at the meeting.
"To clarify you are suggesting selling City Hall and leasing space in that building again," Mackey asked Yoder.
"Yep, it was one of things the study did not explore but they (the architects) thought it had fruit," Yoder said. The study Yoder referenced was done by BKV Group, nationally-recognized architects and municipal design building specialists awarded the job.
The study cost the city $85,000 and provided a draft analysis of costs to renovate City Hall, restore another building close by, as an example it looked at the building where the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce is headquartered at Fourth and Pine streets, and shared the estimated expense to the city to build a structure that could house police/and or government operations.
Costs and concepts were out of the range of reality, according to Councilman Vincent Pulizzi. The study also did not accurately reflect what the department heads, such as police Chief Justin Snyder discussed with the architects, he said. It included a shooting range in a police headquarters. The overall estimates ranged from the mid-$20 million range to new structures that combined the city government and public safety departments – costing $66.4 million.
Pulizzi said he was disappointed with the outcome. BKV Group was not asked to return to the city for discussion.
Meanwhile, Mayor Derek Slaughter said strongly and several times before it was done with general fund money that he was adamantly opposed to spending the money on such a study, considering the cost, the waste of taxpayer dollars, the number of adequate research on the building done beforehand, and the looming financial challenge in the upcoming budget.
Nevertheless, the council took that course of action to get the professionally provided data it believed necessary to make a more informed decision.
Current expenses – Keep the heat on
Scott Livermore, director of Public Works, said the thermostat for City Hall should be at 65 degrees through the fall and winter months.
Currently, the Williamsport Bureau of Police officers are using the building to store evidence and for the weight room, according to the council discussion.
Public Financial Management (PFM) of Philadelphia, a consulting firm assisting the city on its five-year strategic management plan, was aware of the offer of a developer to buy the building for $555,500, but did not recommend that the city sell it for the purpose the developer, JBAS Realty, had intended – apartments and a lower level common area and cafe. But PFM also has recommended the city sell the historic building, including statements that this city has a longstanding tradition of repurposing these kind of buildings.
The decision by council came one day after the Sun-Gazette had an editorial on the unresolved City Hall matter. Council did not discuss the editorial but Mackey reminded others on council they had the information just as he did done by BKV Group.
"We've had a study," he said, adding the financial management firm (PFM – working on the strategic management plan) laid out in clear terms why the city should not be holding onto the building any more.
One argument Mackey said he heard was, "We've all been operating from a separate set of facts . . . well, we all have the same facts now. I would ask that we make a decision on City Hall sooner rather than later."
"I would just second Councilman Mackey's statements, we need to make a decision," Pulizzi said.
"One of the big pieces from the study was the concept of leasing back space in City Hall and still selling it, Yoder said.
Yoder said he has explored that concept and noted it was taking much longer than what he had thought or hoped.
Yoder said when he considers the City Hall issue it seems like leasing space somewhere seems like a good idea.
The council has received feedback from Lycoming County as there is space there. Aside from leasing City Hall, maybe the Sharwell building, 200 East St., but there are really not a lot of other options there, he said.
The conundrum, he described as a "kicker," is still the Williamsport Bureau of Police, and their space. The department administration is on the third floor of Trade and Transit I and the patrol officers work out of the former transportation museum on Nichols Place.
"That's kind of where my individual head's at," Yoder said.
In terms of the concept of leasing space back from City Hall, the city has several options at its disposal.
"We can try to informally see if the economics work on that, or not," Yoder said.
"If not maybe we just do an RFP, (a request for proposals), and get updated with price for that and also include in that what would it look like for us to lease space back and give us the ability to figure out if one or the other makes sense to us and execute it either way."
"I think that is the most solid approach, frankly," Miele said.
Council realizes the city does not have the "borrowing power, or the grit" to pursue a new structure, she noted. "We have to figure something out."
Miele said a more detailed discussion on a path forward ideally should be done in executive session. It doesn't need to be that but it can be some sort of small group discussion depending on the parameters of what is discussed to try to figure out what would constitute a request for proposals for something like this to get the issue settled once and for all, she added.
"I think we need to move ahead, yeah," said outgoing and veteran Councilman Randy Allison of that discussed format and next course of action.
"It is a matter of we all know what our financial situation is for the city," Pulizzi said. "We all know what we are looking at having to expect, so it's a matter of wants versus needs right now" he said.
"We can want as there is out there but what do we truly need to get ourselves out of the financial situation that we are in very quickly that we are about to face," he said.
That is a reference to the possible $3 million or greater budget deficit in 2026 if no corrective action is taken. PFM has stated it could be $5.1 million and grow to $6.4 million in the negative by 2030 but there is an action plan in place with recommendations given to city officials on how to lower that deficit ahead of the budget season. One mill of real estate tax is $866,055, according to the 2025 budget.
Miele also noted how the city must get out of the "physical situation" in terms of buildings and land.
"We are looking for the fastest most economical option to go from being a city that is scattered over eight different buildings to a holistic approach to city governance," she said.
"I am afraid we will throw the baby out with the bathwater if we move too quickly on eliminating the only option that would actually allow us to consolidate all of those functions in one building again," Miele said. "It seems that we need to," she said.
Councilman Eric Beiter said knowing where the city is at in terms of costs related to continuing to occupy Trade and Transit Centres I and II will help the city officials to make an informed decision.
He noted that it was needed because the city is in the process of dealing with the Federal Transit Administration and paying back $1.4 million.
The repayment was due to the misappropriated and misused grants led by a former city administrator.
Slaughter fired the former general manager of River Valley Transit and ex-finance director, William E. Nichols Jr., who was sentenced in May after pleading guilty to felony theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and tampering with public records, charges levied after a statewide grand jury and prosecuted by the attorney general office.
Nichols received a year probation for a sentence and was both chastised and lauded by a Dauphin County judge for his misdeeds, and for his 40-plus years of city service.
Beiter said that information on Trade and Transit Centres I and II will help the city to know how it will potentially "liquidate these places."
"To your point, Eric, if we can move on both of those things and come up with answers to both of those simultaneously, that probably would be our fastest route, Miele said.