KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
Trade and Transit Center I in Williamsport.
The city solicitor has told Community Theatre League to vacate the third floor office space of the Joseph McDade Trade and Transit Centre I due to an unsigned lease stemming from the city’s prior administration, according to city officials.
The non-profit theater group allegedly paid River Valley Transit close to $200,000 in rent to lease the third floor office space of Trade and Transit Centre I, a building at the corner of West Third and Pine streets owned by the city’s bus and transit service.
While the group was told to vacate the third floor, it can remain in the first floor and basement of the Trade and Transit Centre I.
Federal
⢠The Senate voted 52-42 on the confirmation of Janet Garvin McCabe, of Indiana, to be deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. U.S. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Scranton, voted yes. U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Zionsville, voted no.
⢠The House was out of session.
State
County
⢠Lycoming County commissioners approved just over $1 million in Community Development Block Grant funding for the Franklin Township sewer project and $130,901 in CDBG money for the Muncy public library. Rick Mirabito, Tony Mussare, and Scott Metzger voted yes.
City
⢠City Council voted 4-2 to accept an $8.8 million River Valley Transit budget for 2021 and 2022. Voting against it were Bonnie Katz and Adam Yoder. Council President Randall J. Allison, Liz Miele, Vince Pulizzi and Jon Mackey were in favor. David Banks was absent. Katz and Yoder asked for more details and description similar to a proposed budget in 2019 presented to council and were not comfortable withou
mmaroney@sungazette.com
City Council learned Church Street parking deck, with 350 parking spaces, has not had an annual inspection since it opened nine years ago.
Located at 11 West Church St., the four-level building provides 350 parking spaces and housed Susquehanna Trailways, an inter-city motorcoach company, until the bus company relocated.
Council found out this week about the lack of annual inspection of the structure built with concrete and steel from Adam Winder, River Valley Transit general manager, before approving a $17,800 five-year service agreement with a building inspection company, Structure Care, to inspect the facility.
“To the best of our knowledge the Church Street parking deck made of steel and concrete has not been inspected since it was built,” Winder said. Dedication was in 2012.
mmaroney@sungazette.com
The land development plan of Lycoming College’s $5.5 million music facility was approved by City Council contingent on clearing up a minor deed issue.
With the approval at the recent meeting, the construction can begin of the music hall at the corner of Basin and East Fourth streets. The facility is expected to open in fall 2022.
The building is a part of the city East Third Street Old City Gateway Redevelopment.
Council also approved the naming rights agreement between the city and Muncy Bank and Trust Co. for Bowman Field signage and use of the scoreboard. The contract is for six years, with the first year no fee followed by $32,500 paid to the city each year for the remainder of the contract, Mayor Derek Slaughter said.
Barbara Hemmendinger
The public wants to know how to find appointments for getting immunized against COVID-19. With a majority of Americans eager to be vaccinated, we are cautiously hopeful this long pandemic will end. Significantly more vaccine doses are being manufactured and distributed free to all adults, no matter where you live, where you were born, and what your race or ethnicity is.
Vaccines and other public health measures save lives. The Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines all are safe and strikingly effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID, all worthwhile endpoints. If you need convincing beyond these vaccines’ clinical trial results that led to emergency use authorizations in the U.S., go no further than recalling that the huge improvements in U.S. life expectancy in our parents’ and grandparents’ generations came about through childhood immunizations, sanitary drinking water, and tobacco control. People like my gr