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Actions taken by the Salary Board at this week's Lycoming County Commissioners's meeting are part of the commissioners' efforts to get things more in line, according to Commissioner Marc Sortman.
"Not that there was anything wrong in the past, but I think we had a habit of making pay grades for the person, and not the position and we're just cleaning all that up," Sortman said.
"As new hires come in place, they're hired at a rate the position demands and not what an individual person may need or want to take the job in the county," he said.
Sortman explained that the changes were made without changing the salaries of the positions affected, just the pay grades.
The following items were approved by the Salary Board which includes Commissioners Scott Metzger and Mark Mussina, as well as Sortman and Controller Nicki Gottschall: add three part-time trainee telecommunicator positions to the Table of Distribution and Authorizations (TDA); add one part-time telecommunicator II position to TDA; at the Prison, eliminate the part-time temporary deputy warden position from the TDA; in the District Attorney's office, eliminate 11 part-time special detective positions in the DUI Center from the TDA; and at the Veteran's Affairs Office, retitle director of Veteran's Affairs position to Veteran's Affairs director and the assistant director of Veteran's Affairs position to Veteran's Affairs assistant director.
The Salary Board approved changes in title and/or pay grade (PG) with no changes in salaries for the following: director of management operations to Sr. director of operations, PG 13 to PG14; deputy director/operations manager to Resource Management Services'(RMS) operations manager, PG 13 to PG 11; chief assessor/director of Tax Claim (no change in title), PG 10 to PG 12; IT operations director to director of IT operations; IT technology director to director of IT technology; law library director to law library manager; director of facilities, PG 13 to PG 12; director of HR, PG 14 to PG 13; director of Planning and Community Development, PG14 to PG 12; director of elections/reg – PG11 to PG 12.
Under personnel, the board approved the following new hires:New Hires: Jocelyn Barger, full-time correctional officer at the Prison, a union position, $21.50 per hour; Nicol Styer, full-time Licensed Practical Nurse at the Prison, $30 per hour; and Luke Ickes, full-time telecommunicator trainee at Public Safety/ Communications Center, $20.00 per hour.
Other agenda items approved included: the December 31, 2025 audit engagement letter from Baker Tilly for the Lycoming County Recreation Authority to be paid by the authority; a resolution to submit Lycoming County's federal fiscal year 2026 Community Development Block Grant application to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development; a Fair Housing resolution; a resolution designating Michael Hagen as the 504 compliance officer; an amendment to the subrecipient agreement with the YWCA Northcentral PA extending the agreement until the end of the month; an amendment to the agreement with Pace Analytical Services, LLC to add some testing to be paid out of RMS operating expenses; the purchase from Kroff Chemical in the amount of $20,794 for odor control products at the landfill to be paid out of RMS operating expenses; an agreement with Weld Tec Service & Sales, Inc. for gases for cutting and welding at the landfill to be paid out of RMS operating expenses; an agreement with Keystone Communications in the amount of $29 per month for preventative maintenance and evaluation of the tower which serves the radios at the Pre-Release Center to be paid out of operating expenses; the agreement with KidsPeace National Centers, Inc. to be paid out of the Juvenile Probation's operating expenses; an agreement with Gillum Psychological & Counseling Services to be paid out of Juvenile Probation operating expenses; the subrecipient monitoring agreement with West Branch Drug & Alcohol Abuse Commission for the period of 7/1/2026 through 6/30/2027 in the amount of $922,814; and an agreement with Language Services Associates,Inc. for interpretation services for the Public Defender's Office to be paid from their operating expenses on an as needed basis.
The board also voted to ratify the Period of Performance Extension with PEMA for the BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) 2021 grant in order to complete the requirements and close out the project.
Elected officials' personnel actions included internal changes in: the courts - Abigail Way, full-time law clerk, $59,041 per year; clerk of courts, Kabrina Jones, full-time criminal processing clerk, $17.81 per hour; and clerk of courts, Kevin Williams, full-time administrative specialist,- costs & fines, $20.07 per hour.
The next commissioners' meeting will be at 10 a.m., Sept. 24 in the Commissioners' Board Room, 3rd floor Third Street Plaza, 33 West Third St.