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Council appoints two members, adds transit authority to city roster and approves RVTA local match
Summary
Williamsport City Council appointed two volunteers to city boards, adopted ordinances adding River Valley Transit Authority to the city's list of municipal authorities and approving changes to its articles of incorporation, and approved the city's FY25 local match share for RVTA operating funds.
Williamsport City Council on March 27 appointed two volunteers to municipal boards, finalized administrative ordinances related to River Valley Transit Authority and approved the city's local contribution toward RVTA's FY25 operating requirement.
The council voted 7-0 to appoint Ken Healy to the Williamsport Municipal Water and Sanitary Authorities Board for a four-year term beginning March 27, 2025, and to appoint Nick Adenas to the River Valley Transit Authority (RVTA) board to replace a member who stepped down. Mayor Slaughter and council members described both appointees as having technical experience relevant to the authorities they will serve.
The council also passed, by recorded votes of 7-0, two ordinances related to transit governance. One ordinance amends Article 181 of the City Code to add River Valley Transit Authority to the list of authorities created by the city under the Pennsylvania Municipality Authorities Act (final reading passed 7-0). Separately, the council approved a final-reading ordinance to amend RVTA's articles of incorporation to increase the board of directors to seven members and add Lycoming County as an incorporating member with the power to appoint two of the board members; that measure also passed 7-0.
On transit funding, the council approved a resolution certifying the city's provision of local match for state operating financial assistance to RVTA. According to RVTA staff, PennDOT allocated more than $6,200,000 in Section 1513 state operating funds to RVTA for FY25 (a 6.5% increase over FY24). RVTA said the total FY25 local share requirement under Section 1513 is $518,054; the city was asked to contribute $323,938.67. RVTA staff reported 806,001 passenger trips in calendar year 2024 (about a 5% increase over 2023) and said PennDOT has approved a consulting firm to assist RVTA with a new five-year transit development plan to begin in 2025.
Council discussion included questions from members about how local shares are apportioned among municipalities and a public comment referenced riders from Montoursville who use Walmart as a primary stop. RVTA staff explained that federal and state local-share funding must come from municipalities and cannot be billed directly to private businesses as the local match; route guarantees or other arrangements are separate mechanisms.
The council's roll-call votes on the appointments and ordinances were recorded as unanimous (7-0).
