By Mark Gilger
The News-Item
SUNBURY — Northumberland County Commissioner Chairman Vinny Clausi will formally make a recommendation to his fellow commissioners next month to purchase the former Knight-Celotex plant from Moran Industries Inc. for $2 million for the development of a county prison, pre-release center and courthouse.
Clausi believes the 22-acre site is the perfect location for all three facilities.
Clausi and fellow Commissioners Richard Shoch and Stephen Bridy met Tuesday prior to the commissioners’ meeting with Moran Industries owner John Moran and vice president of operations Jeffrey J. Stroehmann to discuss the purchase of the facility. The Watsontown-based Moran Industries is a warehouse and distribution services company.
“It looks good,” Clausi said. “I believe we need to go in the direction of building the new prison, pre-release center and courthouse at one site. We just need to complete some paperwork.”
Next week, Clausi said an environmental study on the property will be conducted to determine if there are any contaminants at the site left over from previous operations.
“I hope to put the issue to a vote in late May or early June,” he said.
The commissioner said the county can use $2 million in insurance money from the Jan. 14 fire that ravaged the county prison on Second Street built in 1876.
“The insurance money will help cover the cost of the purchase,” he said. “There will be no taxpayer money spent on this. We must move forward or it will end up costing taxpayers $2.2 million per year to maintain the prison system we are currently operating.”
The tract of land owned by Moran Industries is located inside a flood-protected area of the City of Sunbury and has all the necessary utilities on site. The property is cleared, stabilized, lighted and fenced in.
Clausi said a feasibility study by CGL Companies of Columbia, S.C., to determine the appropriate options and solutions to the prison crisis has not yet been completed.
Commissioner Richard Shoch maintained his previous stance that the prison situation deserves further study. But he would like to see the courthouse remain at its current location on Market Street.
“We can keep it (prison) where it’s at by building a new wing and refurbishing the front of the building or we can relocate it to the Moran Industries site,” he said.
There has been some debate as to whether the damaged prison could be repaired. Clausi has said it can’t.
Shoch said county chief probation officer Jim Cortelyou informed him that if a pre-release center is properly operated in conjunction with the new prison, it could reduce the average prison population from 200 to 75.
At Tuesday’s salary board meeting, the commissioners and Controller Chris Grayson changed the full-time positions of special counsel and conflicts counsel to part time. They also added a part-time position of autonomous counsel.
Chief clerk and assistant solicitor John Muncer said Sue Schwartz will remain special counsel while the positions of conflicts and autonomous counsel need to be filled. He said Kate Lincoln recently resigned as conflicts counsel to open her own law practice.
The special, conflicts and autonomous counsel will join independent counsel James Best in representing defendants at their legal proceedings before the four magisterial district judges in the county. Two of the counsel also will be used for Children and Youth Services court cases.
Muncer said the four part-time attorneys will receive 70 percent of their full-time salaries and 70 percent of the county benefits.
Muncer, a longtime attorney in the county, said the four part-time positions were created because more attorneys were needed to represent defendants at many daily proceedings that transpire throughout the county. The commissioners agreed with a recommendation by Bridy to pay up to $350 for county emergency personnel to attend a training workshop to learn how to better understand and respond to people with challenging behavior at emergencies. The workshop will be held from 9:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16, at Seibert Hall on the campus of Susquehanna University.