The Lycoming County commissioners Thursday approved a revision to a Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing grant that will allow more money from the grant to be used for actual homeless assistance.
The commissioners' action moves about $100,000 earmarked for other components of the grant, such as data collection, into a fund used to provide financial assistance to people who are behind in their rent payments.
The reclassification of the funds will allow STEP Inc., which administers the program, to assist more people, according to Mya Toon, county grants administrator.
On Tuesday, Mary Lou Bonner of STEP told the commissioners about 80 families have been assisted through the program.
In other business, the commissioners approved an intergovernmental agreement with the state Department of Corrections that will allow state prison inmates to participate in the county's work release program.
County Prison Warden Kevin DeParlos said state inmates must meet three criteria before they can be considered for the program. They must be a county resident, must be classified as a minimum security inmate, and have completed the minimum sentence in state prison.
Even then, inmates will be screened before they are permitted to enter the work release program, DeParlos said.
DeParlos said the county is not obligated to accept state inmates into the program. For example, if there is no room at the county Pre-Release Center where work release inmates are housed, no state inmates would be accepted, he said.
An inmate could be rejected through the screening process, he said.
State inmates first would be sent to the County Prison, then transferred to the Pre-Release Center, he said.
The agreement calls for the county to be paid $60 per day per inmate at the prison, and $70 per day per inmate at the Pre-Release Center.
The commissioners approved receipt of a $51,000 State and Community Highway Safety Program grant that will be used in conjunction with the county DUI Court.
The money will be used to pay for an adult probation officer who will work with the court, Toon said.
The commissioners rejected bids for heating, ventilation and air conditioning renovations for the Pre-Release Center. The bids were rejected because they came in over the amounted budgeted for the project, Toon said.
