Facing a backlog of about 400 people needing fingerprinted, a request by Lycoming County District Attorney Tom Marino for an additional central processing officer to be added to the county’s list of personnel was approved by the Salary Board at this week’s commissioners meeting. Because he is an elected official and has authority over personnel issues in his department, Marino also voted with the Salary Board, which is composed of Commissioners Scott Metzger, Marc Sortman and Mark Mussina as well as Controller Nikki Gottschall.

The addition of the position, which comes at a time when the commissioners are streamlining many departments, was prompted by Marino’s request.

“We’re still behind in having people fingerprinted to the tune of about 400 people,” Marino said.

Thomas Ungard, chief county detective, addressed what is driving the issue.

“There’s some new policies put in place by Judge (Eric) Linhardt,” Ungard said.

“They’re sending people over on arraignment days and guilty plea days that have not been fingerprinted. They’re sending them directly over there. There have been requests from the district magistrates…summons for less serious crimes that have been sent out through the mail. A lot of those people don’t want to miss work in order to be fingerprinted,” Ungard said.

Central processing, he explained, is being asked to stay open later than 5 p.m. and possibly having Saturday hours to accommodate those people.

“With the current manpower, we can’t do that,” he said.

Ungard indicated that there may be future requests for

additional staff to handle the problem.

“It’s big deal because if they get past, once they plead guilty and they’re sentenced…especially if it’s a time-served type of thing or no probation,…and their offense is never documented, it’s not there for future offenses,” Ungard said.

Marino noted that the county is at the “lower end of the list across the state for having people up-to-date fingerprinted.

The salary for the position that was approved will be paid through Act 81 monies.

Agenda requests by the Public Defender’s Office for agreements for seven attorneys who would be utilized in the event of a conflict, also evoked a response from Marino, who questioned, “How many conflict attorneys does the Public Defender’s Office have?”

“The bottom line is the Public Defender’s Office has four conflict attorneys in addition to their staff, which I think is eight or nine attorneys. I have…seven counting (first Assistant District Attorney) Martin (Wade) and myself,” Marino said.

“We’re doing homicide trials, we’re doing sentencings, we’re doing briefs, we’re doing the whole nine yards — we’re short staffed,” he said, adding that he is having difficulty getting people to apply for full-time positions.

Marino noted that some of his staff are averaging between 350 and 500 cases.

“At some point very soon I need to sit down with the commissioners and we need help,” Marino said.

Attorneys approved for the Public Defenders Office for instances of conflict were: Allison Calhoun, Trisha Hoover, Terra Koernig, Peter Lovecchio, Donald Martino, K. Michael Sullivan, Eric Williams, and Jamie Cook.

Other Salary Board actions included: deleting an EMS Clerk IV position in the Department of Public Service (DPS) from the TDA (Table of Distributions and Authorizations); adding an Emergency Management Administrative Coordinator position in DPS, which is funded 50 percent from EMA and 50 percent from EMS; and deleting Development Services supervisor, Community and Economic development and Zoning Administrator positions from the TDA in Planning and Community Development. It was noted that the three positions in planning were open positions.

The commissioners, acting as the Board of Assessment Revisions, approved four real estate refunds. A refund of $125.80 was approved for Darryl and Tawnya Lovell for their property which was damaged by fire. Geisinger HM Joint Venture, received three refunds, $86.31, $140.24 and $11,329.70 as the result of a court-settled appeal. According to Brooke Wright, chief assessor, Geisinger pays taxes on those properties which they rent out.

The following agenda items were approved at the meeting: an agreement with Brandon Lusk for the GED program at the prison; an agreement with Allison Calhoun for professional services; a renewal agreement with Keyser Consulting Group in the amount of $6,900 for Polycom support; an invoice for CCAP Cyber Security Services in the amount of $9,500; an amendment to the agreement with Advanced Communications Solutions to lock in the contract labor rate for prison camera service; an engagement letter with Girio Agency in the amount of $5,000 for appraisal services for the property next to the Transfer Station; an Intergovernmental Agreement and MOU with the Williamsport Redevelopment Authority, City of Williamsport and the Williamsport Area School District, covering blighted properties; all classified and legal advertising expenses with the Sun-Gazette for 2026; the appointment ofShannon Barnes as Chief Clerk; and Barnes as program administrator of the P-Card Program and Heather Lehman as the second administrator.

Under personnel, the following items were okayed: Nathan Tucker, construction supervisor in Facilities Management, $36.33 per hour; 75 Hours per Pay Period, Effective Date: February 1, 2026. Tracey Canfield, part-time resident supervisor at the Pre-Release Center (PRC), union position, $19.20 per hour; Khaliah Little, full-time resident supervisor at PRC, a union position, $19.20 per hour; Robert Sanso and Evan Bloom, full-time correctional officers at the Prison, union positions, $20 per hour.

The next commissioners’ meeting will be at 10 a.m. Feb. 12, in the Commissioners’ Board Room, 3rd floor, Third Street Plaza, 33 W. Third St.