Lock Haven City Council Meeting: Reimbursements, Reports, and Requests

By Emily Wright

LOCK HAVEN – The Lock Haven City Council met on Monday evening and held brief discussions about various city-related matters, a few of which included the city’s 2023 PennDOT Liquid Fuels Use report, a compliance audit of the City of Lock Haven Employees’ Retirement Fund Pension Plan, and notice of a recycling rebate from Wayne Township Landfill, among several other items listed on the meeting’s agenda.

The city council sent a letter to the Central Clinton County Water Filtration Authority (CCCWFA) on January 23, 2024, informing the authority that the City of Lock Haven has paid off a portion of their 2018C Note for water improvement projects at Keller Reservoir totaling $186,751.25. PennVEST could not reimburse this amount due to the timing of expenditures, so the city paid the expense out-of-pocket. At the joint water authority meeting that was held on January 22, the city was directed by representatives of both the CCCWFA and Suburban Lock Haven Water Authority (SLHWA) to submit an invoice for $186,751.25, and in turn, the CCCWFA would reimburse the city. The CCCWFA approved the reimbursement, and payment was received by Lock Haven City Council on January 25, 2024.

City Council also received the 2023 PennDOT Liquid Fuels Use Report (MS-965). The report showed how state funds were used by the City of Lock Haven in 2023 for maintenance and repairs to roads and bridges, equipment purchases, winter maintenance services, and highway construction and rebuilding projects, to name a few. According to the Liquid Fuels Use Report, the total expenditure amount for the year 2023 was $880,171.40, leaving $606.31 in remaining funds as of December 31, 2023.

“This is for council’s information to show the amount of money spent from the city’s liquid fuel tax application from the state,” City manager Greg Wilson explained. “That, of course, was all spent in the Sunset Pines Improvement Project, and the city now has a remaining balance of $606.31 in the liquid fuels account,” Wilson said.

In 2024, the State Funds Allocation (Act 655) of $224,955.42, Turnback Allocation (Act 32) of $5,400.00, and $606.31 remaining balance from 2023 come to a total of $230,961.73.

The Auditor General’s 2020-2022 City Pension Audits were also discussed at the meeting. The purpose of the audit is to determine that the City of Lock Haven Employees’ Retirement Fund Pension Plan has complied with state laws, regulations, contracts, administrative procedures, and local ordinances and policies between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2022. “Every few years the Auditor General’s office sends someone to audit our pensions; both the city employees’ retirement fund and the police pension fund,” Wilson explained. According to the Exit Conference documents, the city has remained compliant with applicable state laws, regulations, contracts, administrative procedures, and local ordinances, and has not received any formal complaints about non-compliance.

Under the “New Business” portion of the agenda for the meeting was a request to the PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) for an extension and contract amendment to the city’s HOME grant. During the meeting, Greg Wilson explained the reasoning behind making this request.

The Pennsylvania HOME Program helps provide funds to local communities to create and maintain affordable housing for low-income residents and individuals with disabilities. Grant funds through the program can be used to build new housing, renovate existing homes, and help first-time homebuyers. The funds come from the federal government and are distributed through the state’s DCED, and can be used for a variety of housing-related needs as long as it benefits low- and moderate-income households.

The original deadline for the City of Lock Haven HOME grant contract is May 19, 2024, but due to complications such as a homeowner withdrawing three weeks into the approval process, a shortage of experienced contractors and employees, supply chain disruptions, and increased costs for supplies, the city is requesting an additional year to complete projects with the grant funding. During Monday night’s meeting, all council members voted unanimously to submit the request for an extension to DCED.

Also under “New Business” for the meeting was a notice from the Wayne Township Landfill regarding a recycling rebate of $2,982. The recycling agreement between the landfill and the City of Lock Haven includes a revenue-sharing plan that provides a rebate when the city’s current recycling tonnage exceeds the recycling tonnage from 2021. “This is the first year that the city is enjoying this part of the new agreement with the Wayne Township Landfill, which picks up the curbside recycling in the city,” Wilson said. “The 2021 tonnage was exceeded by 28 tons, so based on that, we get a rebate of $2,982.00 to the city, and that rebate is of course put towards the amount the city has to spend every year for curbside recycling, which is up to $38,000.00,” he said.

According to Wilson, by law, the city has to pay for recycling to be picked up regardless of whether an individual participates in curbside recycling or not. He encouraged city residents to take advantage of the curbside recycling program since the city is reimbursed based on the tonnage that is recycled. The reimbursements help cover the $38,000.00 curbside recycling expense. “The more that is recycled within the city limits, the better,” Wilson said.

Mayor Joel Long pointed out that the rebate is an example of how residents in the city “can have some direct control” over taxes, stating, “The more people recycle, the less chance we have to raise taxes because we’re getting revenue back to help control that,”. Wilson noted that participating in the curbside recycling program is free to all residents in the City of Lock Haven, and any resident can pick up a recycling bin and a schedule for pickup at City Hall Monday through Friday. More information about the city’s curbside recycling program can be found at https://lockhavenpa.gov/residents/recycling/.

Other updates listed on the agenda included a report on the progress of the new facility for the Lock Haven Police Department and a notice from Comcast regarding changes in their TV channel lineup, however, neither were discussed at the meeting.

According to a progress report provided to the city council by Buchart Horn Architects, the schematic design, site design/land development, site survey, and geotechnical engineering portions of the project are completed. The report states that construction documents are 85% complete, however, the bidding phase and construction administration have not yet begun. As of January 17, 2024, the total balance due for the project is $20,580.00.

A programming advisory was included in a letter dated January 16, 2024, from Deanne Trent, manager of external and government affairs at Comcast. The programming advisory stated that the TV channel SportsNet Pittsburgh will now be available in a different package. The change is due to a new carriage agreement between Comcast and SportsNet Pittsburgh. According to the letter, customers were notified about this change “via bill message”.

The next regular meeting of the Lock Haven City Council will be held at City Hall on Monday, February 26, 2024, at 7:00 p.m.