For the first year since the current board of commissioners took office, the county has been able to pay off the Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes, known as the TRAN, which Commissioner Marc Sortman called a “great day” for the county.

The TRANs are short-term municipal debt securities that are used to pay the bills before the expected tax revenue is collected. Sortman indicated that for three years, the county had not been able to pay off the TRAN and so were forced to refinance one TRAN with another one.

“This is the first year since the three of us have been in office, and we are very proud to say here we are in June and we have paid off the TRAN,” Sortman said.

“So, we are no longer worried about the financial side, that we have to borrow money just to get through to pay our bills, so that is kind of a great milestone for us,” he said.

“I kept thinking to myself, you know, are we ever going to get out of that hole? Because, once you get in a hole, it’s hard to get back out financially,” he said later in his comments.

Agenda items approved by the commissioners include: a one-year subscription renewal with AppSpace for informational board services at the landfill at a cost of $3,960 to be paid out of operating expenses; an agreement with Sunoco LLC to provide fuels for vehicles in Resource Management Services to be paid out of operating expenses; a professional services & administrative agreement with the SEDA-Council of Governments in the amount of $127,000 to be paid out of federal fiscal year 2025 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG); CDBG federal fiscal year 2024 subrecipient agreement with Northcentral PA YWCA in the amount of $169,755 paid out of CDBG federal fiscal year 24 funds; a subrecipient agreement amendment #7 with Lycoming County Water & Sewer Authority paid with ARPA funds; a subrecipient agreement amendment #3 with Lycoming County Water & Sewer Authority for the Riverside Drive Project paid with ARPA funds; a subrecipient agreement amendment #5 with West Branch Regional Authority paid with ARPA funds; an amendment to the agreement with Entech Engineering, Inc.; an agreement with Postler & Jaeckle Corp in the amount of $3,900 for building access controls at the prison paid out of operating expenses; the Central PA Food Bank subrecipient monitoring agreement with the Department of Agriculture for up to $223,225 based on the needs of the county; the re-submission of the letter of intent for flood mitigation assistance 24 grant in the amount of $3,046,005; the county’s newly created Social Media Policy; and payments to the IRS Department of Treasury in the amounts of $4,580 and $26,492 totaling $31,073 in penalties to be taken out of contingency funds.

Four items from the IT Department were approved, including: the purchase from E-Plus Technology in the amount of $6,221 for the prison camera system to be paid out of IT funds; anamendment to the agreement with Melillo Consulting in the amount of $10,282 extending the agreement for advanced tech support to the end of 2027 paid out of operating expenses; the purchase of a replacement battery cartridge from B&H Photo in the amount of $489 paid out of IT funds; and the purchase and installation from Advanced Communications Solutions in the amount of $2,998 paid out of IT funds.

Under personnel, the commissioners approved the following internal changes: Riley Riggle, full-time collections enforcement officer in Adult Probation, $43,993 annually; Patrick Riedy, full-time zoning officer, $44,793 annually; Christopher Ebner, part-time temporary deputy warden of inmate services, $47.95 per hour; Shane Bastress, full-time union correctional officer II, $24.76 per hour.

New hires approved were: Brian Ferry, full-time planner II, $55,000 annually; and Frank Derienzo, part-time equipment operator in Resource Management Service, $18.54 per hour.