Williamsport Mayor Derek Slaughter talks about what he hopes to accomplish as he campaigns at Ohev Sholom Congregation Tuesday May 16, 2023.
DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
As Democratic Mayor Derek Slaughter campaigned at Williamsport polling stations during Tuesday’s primary election, he was resolute about his plans to continue working for the betterment of Lycoming County’s largest city in a second, four-year term.
Running unopposed without a Republican challenger at this point, he could still face someone in the general election should a candidate choose to be a write-in.
“We’re still obviously working very diligently, diligently on all the items we’ve been working on the first term,” he said outside of the polling station at Ohev Sholom Congregation on Cherry Street.
“So, we’re looking at public safety, finance and infrastructure, economic development, parks and recreation,” Slaughter said.
Among the first priorities he listed — public safety — remains critical for the mayor who was joined by city Police Chief Justin Snyder on the campaign trail.
For Slaughter, the first term came with stumbling blocks not of his own doing, but rather, he as others taking leadership roles in political office that year, ran into the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city persevered and he once expressed gratitude to those who did. After the worst of the pandemic, President Joe Biden ensured municipalities would get the dollars they needed to bounce back from the impacts caused by the pandemic. Businesses closed, people lost their jobs, the U.S. was shut down in many cases and fear caused dips in the economy not seen since 2008. Thankfully, the U.S. Treasury has provided those taxpayer dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act.
While Lycoming County got $22 million in ARPA, the city was awarded $25.4 million in two installments of $12.7 million, some of which has been allocated as it must be by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.
To ensure the federal money was spent legally and in compliance with the treasury, Slaughter worked with the seven-member city council to develop a budget and list of priorities. He also sought assistance from UHY, consultants specializing in assuring municipalities that hire them meet the regulatory compliance for properly spending the American Rescue Plan ARPA funds.
The administration also brought in, with the agreement of City Council, officials from the state Department of Community and Economic Development, to assist in developing a five-year strategic financial management plan.
For the parks and open spaces that Slaughter referenced, his administration has worked with members of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, to improve the city’s park and provide more recreational opportunities, and connectivity to neighborhoods and green spaces.
“Obviously, I was very focused on our financial house, getting the financial house in order,” he added.
Toward that end, the city continues to work on reconciling accounts by having a skilled and experienced financial manager, Tracey Rash, of Government Finance Solutions, adding to the employees at the finance office and working toward getting a full-time finance director, perhaps, as soon as this summer.
“We’re still working through that, however, we’re making big strides,” Slaughter said.
Council just approved financial software and the city is implementing human resources’ and payroll software into that and “getting us into the 21st century.”
As for economic development, Slaughter estimated that at least $100 million or so of development has been taking place or is about to take place throughout the city.
“There’s a lot of good momentum, and in the second term we’re looking to really capitalize on the base and the foundation that we’ve built during this first term and continue to grow and expand it,” he said.
Heading into the second term, “we want to continue economic development,” he said.
The city is continuing to improve its infrastructure, including that of the ongoing levee recertification project and a risk assessment of the levee system that is going to begin in a few weeks.
In that study, the Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District officials are planning to visit the city in June.
The goal is to get the levee, recertified and reaccredited. In that way, the levee can be deemed as repaired and safe to withstand high water events and floods and a plan is in place to maintain it over the coming years. Meanwhile, for those protected by it, homes, properties, nonprofits — as much as $4 billion in total real estate value — do not have to pay for flood insurance.
“You know, we have sort of rebuilt the foundation,” he said. “I think everything that we ran on… we’ve done.”
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