The Lycoming County Commissioners were asked to ratify the approval of a grant award from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency in the amount of $122,201 for the county’s Victim Witness Services at their meeting this week.

Prior to the approval of the grant award by the commissioners, the salary board, which is composed of the three commissioners and acting County Controller Nikki Gottschall, had approved requests for staff changes made by the District Attorney’s Office.

These included deleting one part-time victim witness coordinator-adult and adding on full-time victim witness coordinator-adult.

In order to fund the new position, the DA’s office had asked that on assistant District Attorney’s position be placed on hold and the money budgeted for that position would be used to make up for the shortfall from the grant from PCCD to cove the additional full-time Victim Witness Coordinator’s salary and fringe benefits.

After they approved the request, Commissioner Scott Metzger thanked the DA and his staff for “coming up with a solution to help pay for the shortfall” from the grant.

“This is a good outcome,” Metzger said.

The action on the position changes had been tabled at previous meetings in order to find a way to add the new position while still being fiscally responsible.

Another Salary Board action, which puts in place, temporarily until Sept. 1, a bonus structure in the amount of $60 per shift for salaried employees in the Department of Public Safety.

“This is temporary in hopes that the shortage out there will be able to get up to full staff by September,” Metzger said.

Gottschall voted no on the item while Metzger, Commissioner Marc Sortman and Mark Mussina voted yes.

In other business, the commissioners approved the following items on their agenda: the payment schedule for the Actuarially Determined Employer Contribution (ADEC) for the retirement fund in the amount of $1,037,000 to be paid monthly starting in April; the amendment to the subrecipient agreement with the Jersey Shore Area Joint Water Authority to extend the termination date until 9/30/26; an invoice from Clear Ballot in the amount of $10,000 for four years of preventative maintenance and warranty coverage for a central scanner which is part of the county’s certified electronic voting system; the acceptance of donated power tool equipment from Washington Township in the amount of $1,089 for the Pre-Release Center; the agreement with GED instructor Diane Welch in the amount of $7,000 for services at the Pre-Release Center; the addendum to the agreement with Digital Assurance Certification, LLC in the amount of $500 per year for additional services; an agreement with Icon Fire Solutions, LLC, in the amount of $850 to replace the basement zone flow switch on the fire sprinkler system at Third Street Plaza and another agreement with Icon in the amount of $445 to replace packing on an outside stem yoke on a shut-off valve on the main equipment in the basement; a subrecipient agreement with the Montoursville Borough for the reallocatiuon of $1,837 of their Community Development Block Grant 2022 funds to the next round of curb cuts; an amendment to the agreement with Barton and Loguidice, the consultant for the regional solid waste plan, for a time extension; and an MOU with Hepburn Township for the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) 2015 acquisition/demolition of a severe repetitive loss property in the amount of $165,000.

The commissioners also approved four agenda items related to the Resource Management Services (RMS) Department and tabled one request from the department.

Approved items were: an amendment to an agreement with Quality Air Mechanical to extend the terms of the agreement to Dec. 31, 2025; an amendment to an agreement with Cummins, Inc. extending the terms for another six month for work on the truck engines; an amendment to the agreement with Professional Petroleum Service Co. extending the terms to Dec. 31, 2027 for servicing fuel island pumps and tanks; and an amendment to an agreement with the

Equipment Depot of Pennsylvania, Inc., to extend the terms until March 31, 2025 for service on the forklift in the recycling area.

A request from RMS for an amendment to an agreement with Tulpehocken Mountain Spring Water, Inc. extending the agreement until the end of the year for drinking water for RMS employees was tabled.

Metzger said that the commissioners wanted to discuss this since other county departments pay for their own water. He questioned if the cost for RMS should come out of the “taxpayers’ pockets.”

Under personnel, the commissioners approved the following full-time employees for the positions and rates of pay: Jenny Picciano, director at Planning and Community Development, $89,520; Sara Johns, EBP Coordinator/acting pretrial Probation Officer Supervisor in Adult Probation, $33.4r hour; Kennedie Bahr, union position in Adult Probation, $24.53 per hour; Riley Hoy, resident supervisor, a union position, at the Pre-Release Center, $19.20 per hour; Nicholas Vognetz, union correctional officer at the Prison, $20 per hour; Monica Laird, lieutenant at the Prison; and Nathaniel Casper Miller, $16.47 per hour in the Domestic Relations Office.

The next meeting will be at 10 a.m. Feb. 27 at the Commissioners’ Board Room, 3rd floor Third Street Plaza, 33 West Third St.