Six-Year LH Capital Improvement Plan Revealed
By Scott Johnson
LOCK HAVEN – City Council spent a majority of its 90-minute meeting Monday night regarding a just-developed 2020-25 Capital Improvement Program.
City Manager Greg Wilson said the proposed program earmarks $11.5 million over the next six years on the various city departments, a majority of which would come from government grants and funding.
This year, Director of Public Works Tony Stopper said, would focus on City Hall security and aborting the public works facility. City Hall is then planned to be remodeled and renovated next year.
“We have documentation of all of the renovations here… It was last done in the 80s and 90s and, in my mind, it shows,” Wilson said, noting maps in the upstairs map room have to be covered by garbage cans when it rains hard, and his office has several areas of pealing paint in the corners.
He said the estimated cost of renovations, after some negotiations downward, is about $1.6 million. “It’s a good chunk of change,” Wilson said, noting a large part is any project over $25,000 has to pay federal minimum wage. He added colleagues in the Pittsburgh area have told him their costs to build a new city hall bigger than the one in Lock Haven are around $1.2 million.
The city is also looking to update Hoberman, Triangle and Hanna parks next year along with appling a seal coat to the levee walkway.
Stopper said the city also has to look at the Spring Street sewer line with the new Geisinger Medical Clinic now under construction there. “That would also help out with the ‘I’ and ‘I’ (Influx and Infiltration) into the sewer plant,” he said. Regarding streets, Stopper identified an upcoming need with the streets in the Sunset Pines development with plans there in the next five years.
Regarding water, Stopper said there will be the need for meter replacements specifically along Fourth Street, but at other areas in the city as well.
Further, Wilson said the water department has to deal with “significant” improvements at the Ohl Reservoir and the creation of two “pretty significant wells” to deal with the draw-down of the Keller Reservoir for improvements there. He noted the Keller draw-down is likely about four years away and talk about that won’t start until next year and a series of permits and grants from the federal government.
Lastly, the proposed Capital Improvement Program includes a new ladder truck in 2022 for the Lock Haven Fire Department, whose current truck is past its expected use. Wilson said the ladder truck is invaluable in a city with First Quality, Lock Haven University and many other businesses. Further he noted churches and even two-story homes need a ladder truck to fight certain fires.
“I don’t know how other departments can fight fires in high buildings without a ladder truck,” Fire Chief Bob Neff said. He noted all of the nearby buildings of the former Heilig-Meyers and Town Tavern buildings were saved due to the ladder truck in a fire a couple of years ago. Most recently, he said, the department was able to save a First Street church due to the truck.
Neff added the city has a very good insurance rating because of it.
Wilson estimated the cost of a new ladder truck at $1.4 million, with $500,000 coming in grants.
“We need to tap onto as much funding partners as possible,” he said.
Council will review the document, possibly email Wilson with questions in the coming week, with a special meeting scheduled next Monday at 7 p.m. in City Hall specifically on the capital plan.
In another note, the city is beginning to update its comprehensive plan to provide action-oriented strategies focused community priorities. “It is vital that city residents are meaningfully engaged as the plan is being developed,” the city states in a release. To that end, a community workshop on the city’s comprehensive plan update is scheduled for Wednesday March 11 at 6 p.m. in the Gross Community Room, third floor of the Ross Library. Light refreshments and child care will be provided.
