City Council Approves Use Requests, Talks About Connecting City to Bald Eagle Valley Trail
By Christopher Miller
LOCK HAVEN – Council approved multiple use requests Monday evening, including the street closure request for Uncle Alberts.
The request is to close North Vesper Street from Main Street to Jordan’s Alley on July 19 and 20, August 2 and 3, August 16 and 17, September 6 and 7, and October 17-19 which is Commonwealth University-Lock Haven’s Homecoming weekend for Corn Hole Tournaments.
Council also approved a request from Box 125 and the Branching Out Skatepark Tour for use of the Hoberman Skatepark on July 27 for a contest and vendor fair from 12 to 5 p.m. The event will feature food, vendors, and skate contests.
Lastly, the Eastern States Trail-Endurance Alliance requested use of Hanna and Peddie Parks on May 8-10, 2026 during the Eagleton Trail Festival which takes place at the Sons of Italy Campground along Renovo Road. The request for use of the parks is for overflow parking and tent camping at Peddie Park. Council approved this request unanimously, with comments from councilman Steve Stevenson regarding no open fires and from City Manager Greg Wilson saying that there is no restroom at Peddie Park and that the event organizers would have to make those arrangements. As well, the use of Peddie Park for camping requires the city to make a resolution to allow camping at Peddie Park during the dates requested.
In other news, Brian Brungard was approved to fill the vacant relief driver position at Citizens Hose Company in the city limits.
Council also provided various updates on city and committee happenings.
Tami Brannan reported that the Ross Library Board recently reopened the search for their new Executive Director, saying that, “anyone with a Masters in Library Science (MLS) degree and a passion for public libraries is urged to apply.”
City Manager Greg Wilson reported that multiple personnel were recently hired to fill “many vacant positions” in various city offices, mainly maintenance.
Councilwoman Barb Masorti commended Tami Brannan’s work with rescuing cats and kittens, citing an article that appeared over the weekend. Masorti thanked Brannan for her hard work in the project, while Brannan replied with “it never seems to end.”
Councilman Jeff Brinker mentioned that the new city website is up and running, commenting that it is “very nice and clean, and easier to navigate versus the old one.”
Greg Wilson also mentioned that they were reviewing a product that could be added to the website, a chat bot, that people could use to more easily navigate around the website.
“If someone would use the chat bot to say, for example, what is happening on Commerce Street, the chatbot could direct them to a quick video that would have been recorded by the city foreman explaining why the road is closed and what is happening in that part of town,” Wilson said.
Lastly, councilwoman Barb Masorti reported that a “test bike ride around town” was held last Friday evening.
“The goal is to connect the Bald Eagle Valley Trail (BEVT) from Castanea to the City limits,” Masorti said. “On the ride was a representative from Harrisburg, County Engineer Steve Gibson, and two members of the BEVT committee. We are talking about working with Castanea Township to put bike lanes going across the bridge, and Castanea has room to get them all the way to Hanna Street, but we don’t have the room on our roads in the city limits for a separate bike lane. People that we spoke with downtown want it to be safer to ride their bikes in the city and a designated bike lane would be nice, but where could we put it? I suggested they could ride in the alleys and the people said they had never thought of that. By trying to figure this out, it would be a great opportunity to show off the city of Lock Haven to others.”
All members of the city council were present for Monday’s meeting.
