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Following a court proceeding this week, Lycoming County Register and Recorder David Huffman was given seven days to answer Lycoming County commissioners' assertion that a consultation took place between the elected row officer and commissioners regarding relocating the register and recorder office to another building.
Huffman initially filed a lawsuit against the county and its commissioners in 2025. He contended that a full and complete consultation did not take place regarding the relocation and believes there are several safety aspects related to a proposed relocation of the office to the Third Street Plaza building.
Commissioners Scott Metzger, Marc S. Sortman and Mark Mussina, through their attorney, J. Michael Wiley, of McCormick Law Firm, presented an argument of "undisputed fact on the issue of consultation."
Wiley states that Huffman admitted that a meeting occurred Aug. 4, 2026, and was in excess of two hours. During the August meeting, the parties exchanged the reasons behind the possible move of the register and recorder's office, as well as the concerns about the move and the location.
Wiley noted that "per the relevant statutory authority, following the consultation, the decision regarding the location of the office belongs to the commissioners."
In September, Senior Judge Charles Saylor denied Huffman's motion for an emergency stay to prevent the move the commissioners approved Sept. 10.
Commissioners voted 3-0 to relocate the office to the Third Street Plaza.
Court records indicated that Huffman is planning to retire effective Feb. 1. He also notified the county that, because of his pending retirement, he will not make any long-term operational decisions about the office, according to Pennlive.com.
Any planning related to the move will be deferred until his successor takes office and assesses its needs first-hand, he wrote:
During this period, all register and recorder staff will continue to focus exclusively on daily operations and will not participate in relocation or any long-range planning activities, according to Huffman.
Commissioners want to move Huffman's office from the courthouse to free up space for the expansion of the sheriff's office. The plan is to move the adult probation office from the third floor into the first-floor space currently occupied by the register and recorder.
The sheriff's office, which also is on the third floor, would expand into the space that the adult probation office would leave.
The commissioners justified their plan by noting when the courthouse opened in 1971, there were two judges and nine deputy sheriffs, Pennlive reported.
Today there are four judges, plus a vacancy, two hearing officers and 29 deputy sheriffs, Metzger said.
The sheriff's office has only two holding cells, which creates a problem when a female inmate is present, Sheriff Eric Spiegel said. The plan is to add two more cells.
The office also has no locker room in which deputy sheriffs, four of whom are women, can change and space for attorneys to speak with clients is limited, he said.
Huffman cited the lack of security in the Third Street Plaza and claimed the space into which his office is to be moved is inadequate.
While those entering the Third Street Plaza do not pass through security as they do at the courthouse, Spiegel says a deputy sheriff regularly patrols the building, according to Pennlive.