As public figures, the Lycoming County Commissioners know that they can’t always control what people say about their decisions, particularly those people who comment on social media. At their meeting this week, the commissioners tried to dispel some of the inaccuracies they’ve seen concerning, among other things, the economic package being offered to Bass Pro and the non-disclosure agreements that were signed leading up to the announcement of the retailer locating at the former Lycoming Mall property.

The issue of non-disclosure agreements (NDA”s) that were signed when Bass Pro was looking at locating to the former Best Buy property was brought up at the meeting.

Commissioner Mark Mussina explained that NDA’s are used by businesses to keep competitors in the dark when considering a location.

“They don’t want someone to copy their homework that they have put in…whether it’s a competitor or whether it’s just anybody else that sees the value in this property,” he said.

Mezger explained the chain of events that led to the commissioners signing those NDA’s.

“In April, FAMvest asked us, come down and tour the mall, because they wanted to show us how bad shape was in the infrastructure, how terrible it was, because nothing had been updated since the beginning, really, and so we’re sitting there walking around the mall. They said Bass Pro has a request, they want you to sign a non-disclosure that you will only not release their name, nothing else, just don’t release their name until they’re ready to release it. And once they did the final deal, they came here, and they released who was coming here,” Metzger said.

In terms of the NDA signed by the commissioners prior to the announcement of BassPro as the retailer the developers of the former Lycoming Mall property were courting, Metzger explained that they were only asked to keep the name secret-nothing else.

There have also been rumors that the $5 million loan that the commissioners approved for FAMvest was actually taxpayer money that was given to the developers.

Not true, said the commissioners.

“The county was not investing, they…gave a loan to a developer, and it went with interest, they’re paying that back. We’ll make $575,000 off that $5 million, Metzger said, adding, “They’ve been responsible.”

Metzger said that when the previous board was asked to loan that money their concern was that a developer was going to come in who wouldn’t do anything and the mall would just deteriorate. FAMvest had a track record in the community with several developments here and in State College.

“They’re a good developer to work with, so they were able to purchase it,” Metzger said.

“We want the best for Muncy Township. The school district, the township, and the county have lost $2.6 million in revenue since 2018 in tax money. We want that to grow. We want the community to grow. We want our kids to stay here and have quality of life attractions to go to, and what Bass Pro and what they can bring here with other entities here, and jobs and activities for them to go to is what we want for Muncy Township,” Metzger said.

In order to attract Bass Pro, which he called the “best possible retailer to be in the middle of the Pennsylvania wilds,” the county had to put together a package in order to compete with other areas.

“At no time was the previous board of commissioners, or this previous, or this board of commissioners, trying to deceive anybody. It’s very hard to get a retailer like that here in Pennsylvania. We had to put together a package, because we’re in competition. Wilkes-Barre wanted it very badly, and we had to put a package together. There’s no secret on the package what’s going forward, and so that’s where we’re at, and we’re still waiting to hear when they can break around. They want it to be open by 2027. We don’t know if that’s going to happen, because we’re just waiting to hear what the next step is. All we did was make a loan. Okay, that’s our involvement,” he said.

Rumors have also been swirling around the economic package that was put together to attract the national retailer here.

‘The rumor mills, I heard, and a lot of people believe that you gave them $6 million. You just gave that to them. And then I heard as much as $18 million were given to Famvest,” Muncy Township resident Dewey Waugh told the commissioners.

“So the package is an economic package that, to be very clear, goes to Bass Pro. FAMvest is not getting $1 from this county, not $1 goes to FAMvest. I can’t say that clearly enough. They get nothing,” said Commissioner Marc Sortman.

“They’re part of the economic stimulus. So, the economic stimulus is the county of Lycoming, and the state,” he added.

Sortman explained that state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, and state Rep. Joe Hamm, R-Hepburn Township, are going after monies from the 6 percent sales tax at the state level for the economic package.

“There is an economic development package that had to be put together for Bass Pro that Bass Pro will accept the day they open, so they don’t even take it ahead of time. There’s been $0 to date paid to Bass Pro, $0 paid to FAMvest,” Sortman said.

“As Commissioner Metzger said, it’s a loan to FAMvest that they have already made payments on, because it was part of the deal. To Commissioner Metzger’s point, there was no way we were getting a Bass Pro in Lycoming County without that economic stimulus, because Wilkes Barre already had put it together,” he said.

“This isn’t something we decided as Lycoming County, this is something Bass Pro tells you,” he added.

Sortman explained that as a businessperson, he hated the idea that the county had to give a retailer money to locate here.

“I also know I had to be part of that vote, and I was sitting in Wilkes Barre when I had to make that vote, and if I was Bass Pro, I hate to say it, because you know I love Lycoming County, but when you’re sitting over there, and you got Men’s Warehouse, and you got Books-A-Million you’ve got every chain available sitting over there in that Wyoming Valley,I looked at that and I said, holy (expletive), guys, if we don’t say yes to this, they’re coming here, they’re not coming to us,” Sortman said.

He admitted that “it’s a hard pill to swallow that we’re going to give our hard-earned tax dollars, whether it’s county tax dollars or state, because it’s more state than it is county. I can tell you that, but it’s a hard pill to swallow, but we need them here.”

Metzger pointed out that the state is “ponying up the majority” of the economic package right now.

“Another thing that Commissioner Metzger made happen in that deal is, even though I believe it’s a much longer loan for FAMvest, we required FAMvest to pay the loan off for us to have the cash we needed to give to Bass Pro, but again, Bass Pro, not FAMvest. FAMvest gets the zero,” Sortman said.

Metzger reiterated, “There’s been nothing given to Bass Pro at this point. It’s due the day they open their doors from everybody, the state, the Chamber, because if the state doesn’t come up with the money, the Chamber’s on the hook for the money. The county’s not on the hook for the money, the chamber is.”