City to Respond to Downtown Lock Haven, Inc.’s “Integration with Existing Agency” Proposal Request
By Christopher Miller
LOCK HAVEN – City Council discussed at length their consideration of a request from Downtown Lock Haven, Inc. (DLH) to provide a proposal to bring the organization under “the city’s umbrella.”
The request for a proposal comes from the DLH Board of Directors and their idea to “explore the concept of integrating with an existing agency.”
The board sent a letter to the city and other agencies, the Clinton County Economic Partnership included, asking them to provide a narrative, complete a questionnaire, and submit responses by November 30.
While city council discussed the integration at length, the initial request of council from DLH is to complete the questionnaire and send it back.
“I think DLH should be a separate entity,” councilman Steve Stevenson said to begin the discussion.
“The Partnership thinks they can absorb DLH into their office, but I think they should be a separate entity. I am not against them exploring possibilities.”
Councilwoman Barb Masorti also sided with Stevenson, adding that being a governing body “could present us with conflicts of interest.”
Stevenson added that DLH has their own budget which the city “contributes a lot of money to.”
“They need to focus on the downtown and to not become an organization that we would give money to and they will run it,” he said.
Stevenson also mentioned that the DLH office in the downtown provides a lot of exposure in that area.
“If we absorbed them we would be talking more expenses like insurances, wages, employees…could the city accept sponsorships if DLH was under our umbrella? There are lots of things to look into here,” he said.
Councilman Jeff Brinker posed additional questions such as “how much do they (DLH) want, how many hours would they work, would it be part-time, full-time, what does the umbrella they are envisioning look like.”
Mayor Joel Long mentioned that the DLH Manager position, “has been seen as a stepping stone to a different job” and that they have been looking for an answer to stop that from happening.
“I have no problems with the city working with DLH to be a bigger provider of support to the organization,” Long said.
City council voted in favor of staff replying to the questionnaire and answering questions with councilman Jeff Brinker voting against the matter.
Questions from the questionnaire include: how do you plan to continue the mission of Downtown Lock Haven, Inc, what is your strategy for financial sustainability of the organization, what do you see as the current board’s role if your agency should take the lead on the DH organization, how would you integrate the organization’s manager into your team, do you perceive any conflicts of interest between your current operations and the potential acquisition of DLH, what changes would you implement in the work that DLH currently does in the business district of downtown Lock Haven, what would the timeline of reorganization look like for you?
