Officials say changes at Lycoming County Landfill yielding results
Trending
It's good news for the Lycoming County Landfill as the commissioners received a report at their meeting this week that the landfill is beginning to move in a more positive direction financially under the leadership team that was put in place in February this year.
"In order to compare apples to apples, we took the same months in 2025 to compare to those in 2026. The difference between 2025 and 2026 is an increase in net revenue of $1,459,410.79, and that's comparing the same periods between 25 and 26," said Shannon Barnes, the county's director of management operations, who made the report to the commissioners.
"Just to point out, this includes the additional spending that has been much needed for the permitting process. So I would say thus far, the management team has been successful in starting to turn things around for the county landfill," she added.
Barnes noted that the tonnage is also up in that time period by 3,676.8 tons.
"Difference in how business is being conducted is what is making this new direction profitable. Money is not being spent on capital projects that are not necessary just because they are a want," she said.
She cited the example of a $1.5 million project for a new force main for leachate is not needed at this time because of a change in the way leachate is now being handled at the landfill.
"(It) doesn't mean it may not be needed in the future, but right now, because we've changed the way we're doing things, it's not a necessity at this moment," she said.
"What we've done is made fiscally responsible decisions. We do not know the ins and outs of how landfill works, so we hired a management team after meeting with different companies to get their knowledge, and went with the best team for our region," Barnes said.
"This is what you do in business. You hire the experts who are successful at what they do. You model your investment after something that has a track record and longevity of being successful. We found that with the Clinton County Waste Authority," she added.
Referring to the report on the landfill, Metzger said, "In six months, with the rates being increased, tonnage went up, and almost $1.5 million more in revenue. Six months-that I believe is a success to date," Metzger said.
In response to comments that have come in online during the comment period at the commissioners' meeting for a few weeks, always under a screen name, the commissioners announced at their meeting that no comments would be read out loud with the commenter's full name and where they live from now on. Those comments would only be added to the public record.
"We've had several people that do not state their full name; they have a screen name. So, if their comments want to be read out loud in the public meeting, they must state their name and where they live. If they just put their screen name, we will put the comments under the minutes, but we will not read them publicly going forward," Commissioner Scott Metzger stated at the beginning of this week's meeting.
In response to some comments made by the anonymous commenter, that the landfill at Wayne Township, which is managed by the same team that is now at the county's landfill had lost $1 million a year for the last two years, Metzger said that Jay Alexander, the head of the management team, said that their audits proved otherwise.
"Their audits confirmed they had a profit of a million the last couple years. Some better than previous, and some not so good. The last couple years, including subtracting the depreciation number of 4 million, they were three quarters through a $15 million expansion. So a massive capital burn, and they still had a positive $1 million up there," Metzger said.
"So he wasn't sure exactly where those comments were coming from, but according to his audits, it shows something different. He made note of that, and statedAdd PT Administrative Coordinator to the TDA DPS • Delete PT Administrative Specialist Position from the TDA that to us this past week," Metzger added.
"People don't understand because they don't see it, but how much time and effort and discussion goes into these decisions," said Commissioner Mark Mussina.
"We didn't make this decision overnight or in one meeting. We made this over months and months and several meetings with multiple groups of people, and we decided after time that this was the right way to go," he added.
Metzger said that he wanted to commend the team at the landfill "and all the employees for working diligently to turn this round and make a profit for the county."
"We continue to encourage them and support them in everyday operations. We look forward to additional positive reports," Metzger said.
In other business, the commissioners approved: an agreement with Salzmann Hughes, PC as a solicitor for the county's treasurer to be paid out of operating expenses; an agreement with George Jr. Republic for the Juvenile Probation Office to be paid out of operating expenses; updates to Policy 511 the county's uniform policy; the 2026-2027 Election Integrity Grant application in the amount of $364,948.10; and an amendment with Integrity Health to be paid out of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Michael Hagen, director of the county's Human Resources Department announced that Alix Fils-Aime has been hired as a part-time special detective at the DUI Center at $25 per hour.
Meeting as the Salary Board along with Controller Nicki Gottschall, the following actions were approved: adding a part-time administrative coordinator in the commissioners' office to the TDA and deleting a part-time administrative specialist position in the Department of Public Safety from the TDA.
The next commissioners' meeting will be at 10 a.m., Aug. 13 in the Commissioners' Board Room, 3rd floor, Third Street Plaza, 33 West Third St.