They do rental inspections in the City of Williamsport, check on building and environmental safety hazards in and outside of residences, businesses and industries.

Overall, the 2026 proposed budget for the Environmental Control and Codes Department rose by 3%, or slightly more than $27,000. “Just like all of the other departments — that is based on pensions, health insurance,” said Gary Knarr, city zoning officer and spokesman for the department to City Council during a recent budget work session.

He recommended a possible hiring of a part-timer — maybe someone working 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to fill in any gaps.

Increases and decreases were seen in the department. Increased City Hall allocations, as Knarr put it, “because it is a little more expensive to operate because of the costs involved.”

Some of the decreases were in contract services. That is because of the third-party consultant, Barry Isette and Associates. The line item has decreased by $8,000, he said. Knarr said that was because he has picked up some of the administrative work, doing inspections for Isette when he is not available.

The department is down $1,000 for training costs, he said. That is due to having an officer who is certified, and one that has all of the training but needs to take a test to become certified as an international property maintenance code-certified worker.

Some other items include decreases in software because the department works with the city on it, so it does not have its own software expense cost.

A system that was being used will become defunct next year, so the department is working with the city to get an all-in-one type of software, and will see a decrease in cost.

The other item is the capital projects budget. The department does not have a lot of these but the main issue for the department has been code cars and the department is now at a full complement of six. “They are new because of the American Rescue Plan Act funding that was used for their purchase,” Knarr said, adding their longevity is expected to be in a timeframe of 10 years.

As far as decrease in rental property inspections, Knarr clarified this area.

“When they came out with the rental inspection ordinance it was required that they be inspected every four years,” he said. “Obviously, we can’t do the inspections every year,” he added. “So what they did was stagnated them and, unfortunately, this year you see that decrease in the Central Business District and the commercial zoning district.”

Councilwoman Liz Miele asked about the GIS software and asked if there was any savings to any party if the city attempted to regionalize that with the county.

“It is something we can look at,” he said, adding Scott Williams, the city planner and assistant director of the city Department of Community and Economic Development and Planning who used to be with county planning specializing in transportation, could look into that.

Jamie Livermore, city finance director, said Williams and Valerie Fessler, director of the city Department of Community and Economic Development, are spearheading this GIS effort and are looking at a plan to put everyone together, using the same software.

“Also, putting it into the strategic management plan (STMP) so that the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) pays for it,” Mayor Derek Slaughter said.

Miele said she would love to see the city do a lot more with software. She recalled how former Councilman Dave Banks had some dreams of using software that would allow the city to track pot holes, rental violations, and regular code violations. Slaughter said such software could also be used to track capital projects.

“How to improve neighborhoods in a holistic way by chipping away at all of those … I think that is an incredibly powerful idea,” Miele said.

“I guess I am looking to get us the most bang for our buck, and if that happens through partnering with the county and utilizing their GIS in the same way that we have a level of GIS and utilizing their data that seems to me to be worth exploring,” she said.

“Yeah, that is exactly what we are looking at,” Slaughter said.

Councilman Jon Mackey asked how many codes cars were in the fleet.

There are four codes officers, one public safety has one of the older vehicles, and Knarr utilizes one for himself, for a total of six vehicles.

“That’s gas and oil for the cars?” Mackey asked, adding at $2,800 we are only filling up these tanks 12 times a year?”

“That is correct,” Knarr replied. “Does that seem like not enough gas?” Mackey asked.

In some instances when the staff goes out for multi-inspections, the officers go out to assist each other, Knarr explained. “They are not utilizing the car each day,” he said.

The street inspector, Dave Columbine, is part-time, so he does not use a car every day, he explained.

“So there is some car pooling going on?” Mackey asked.

“Correct,” Knarr said.

Council President Adam Yoder noted a reference from the study by Public Financial Management (PFM).

“If I remember right your department was the only one that had a consistent decrease in funding,” he said. “Maybe there was one other that was close,” he said. “That really stuck out to me . . . to be frank, your department is usually the one that gets the big black eye from the people calling in, ‘Why aren’t codes doing this . . . doing that?'” he said. “I hear it and I know everybody else up here hears it,” he said, adding a question that has been frequently asked over the last few years.

“You have a good idea of the codes-related challenges that the city has?” Yoder asked.

“Correct,” Knarr replied. “If we had the ability, what would you change about the department? Is it more people, is it more technology?” he asked.

When Knarr was hired 15 years ago, he said, there were seven code officers, a code administrator, a zoning officer and two office staff.

“We are down to just four code officers, myself, and an office manager,” Knarr said.

“I think if we brought in a part-time person who did not have to have insurance … again that would be to assist some of those things like people who say they can’t get a hold of codes.”