The GEO Reentry programs that were instituted under former President Judge Nancy Butts will continue under her predecessor, according to Lycoming County Commissioner Mark Mussina, who said that he is “kind of the liaison” between the county and the courts.

“Just because there’s a change at the top, there’s this fear that the GEO system might go away. There have been other counties where, whether it becomes politicized, or whether it becomes personalized, or whatever it is that when one President Judge left that championed that, the new President Judge came in and shut it down. And that is not happening here,” Mussina said. “We’ve met with Judge (Eric) Linhardt. All the people over there have seen the positive effects. There’s no danger that the GEO is going away now that Judge Butts isn’t here,” he added.

Mussina made the comments during this week’s commissioners’ meeting where an amended agreement with GEO Reentry Services, LLC, was approved, extending it until December.

Last year, GEO celebrated 10 years of working with the county’s court system to try to reduce recidivism through various programs.

As Linhardt takes over as President Judge, according to Mya Toon, the county’s director of financial management who requested the amendment to the agreement, Linhardt had indicated that he wanted until the end of the year to reevaluate how things are working now that he’s taken over from Butts.

“Judge Linhardt is new to the spot, so he wants to see things. So we’re doing a year long extension before we get into a longer extension, but our lease in the building we’re at runs for a couple more years. But I know there was some intrepidation (SIC) after the vote came back that once Judge Butts was out, that does this mean treatment court and veterans court and those specialty areas that have been so beneficial to those niche groups of society, if they were in danger, and we’re just here to say that they’re not,” Mussina said.

“The court system and the people over there appreciate them, and they see the value, and they see the decrease in our population at the prison, and the decrease in recidivism, so GEO’s here. We just got to look at money and what services do they provide…When our new contract comes in, it’ll be a multi-year contract, and we want to make sure we know (what) we’re paying for and we’re not paying for services we don’t want, and we’re just kind of streamlining the contract, but it’s not going anywhere,” he said.

Butts lost her bid for retention in last year’s election.

Toon also told the commissioners that the county had rejected all bids for PHC Janitorial Services, opting instead to provide those services in-house, resulting in a savings of $39,000.

Other actions by the commissioners approving the following: the 2026 Actuarially Determined Employer Contribution (ADEC) to the Employees’ Retirement fund in the amount of $790,000, with the first payment coming in April; the agreement with Forensic Pathology Associates/Health Network Laboratories for autopsies at the Lehigh Valley facility; the agreement with National Medical Services, Inc. in the amount of $250,000 for forensic laboratory and expert consultation services for the District Attorney’s Office on an as needed basis; the subrecipient monitoring agreement with Lycoming County United Way of North Central PA in the amount of $195,505 for their homeless assistance program; the subrecipient monitoring agreement with Lycoming County Children and Youth Services for the child welfare services funding; the 911 Statewide Interconnectivity Grant award in the amount of $45,441 for maintenance; the Business Rental Preferred Rate Agreement with Penrac, LLC for the county’s fleet when there are times that renting is more cost-effective; and the Hazardous Material Response Fund grant award in the amount of $15,828.

The commissioners also gave their approval for: an amendment to the agreement with Dawn Sweeley, stenographer for the Zoning Hearing Board.

Leslie Kilpatrick, IT operations director introduced the following items for commissioner approval: an agreement with Pierson Computing Connection for $54,000; a change order with Melillo Consulting extending their contract for three months the software support renewal with Advantage Software for $4,794 for six court reporter devices; and the software renewal with Datapilot for three years at a cost $2,985. All were approved.

Additional items approved were: the agreement with Guardian Protection in the amount of $31,983 for installation and $340 monthly service agreement for the Route 405 access system which is an upgrade and improvement for the security at District Magistrate Gardner’s office; the Agreement with Guardian Protection in the amount of $4,577 for installation and $89 monthly service agreement for the Treasurer and Voters Offices for an alarm panel and keypad; the agreement with Icon Fire solutions, LLC for annual fire code inspections; an amendment to the agreement with Pied Piper Pest control in the amount of $89 per month for a rat infestation at the County Farm; and an agreement with Hillis Carnes Engineering Associates in the amount of $12,215 for soil testing at the Hill Street site of the new magistrate building.

The Liquid Fuels Grant Award for Watson Township Fillman Road Project in the amount of $23,000 was approved as were the following appointments to the Lycoming County Authority:

Jennifer Wilson (reappointed) and Bruce Smithgall.

Under personnel, the commissioners approved the following items: Susan Satteson part-,time personnel assistant at the prison at $17.79 per hour; Shirley Hamm, part-time administrative specialist in Public Safety/ Communications Center, at $27.02 per hour; Christopher Smith, full-time Emergency Management Agency manager in Public Safety/EMA at $53,391 annually; and Dustin Williams, full-time CAD training coordinator/telecommunicator II and acting director of Public Safety in Public Safety, at $28,69 per hour.

The next commissioners’ meeting will be at 10 a.m. Jan. 15 in the Commissioners’ Board Room, 3rd floor, Third Street Plaza, 33 West Third St.