LOCK HAVEN - "This is a happy day!"
With those words, long-time STEP Director Janet Alling marked the beginning construction of a project that was a long time in the making.
Dignitaries joined a throng of senior citizens at the former Kmart building in Clinton Plaza, to conduct a groundbreaking ceremony for a new community center in the city - one that will consolidate services to seniors, add some services for youngsters and serve the community at large for decades to come.
The new building, which should be completed by late spring or early summer 2011 will replace the current senior center and Bi-County Office of Aging offices in the Gary G. Tarr Memorial Jaycee Hall, 352 E. Water St., and the Head Start classrooms in the Bald Eagle Center in McElhattan.
It also will house a multi-purpose room for seniors and children, plus a garage for STEP's fleet of vehicles, Alling said.
The center is designed to bring about 500 citizens and workers weekly to a location off of Walnut Street on the city's south side that has been long dormant.
In fact, the parking lot in front of the facility was filled for the first time since K-Mart moved away so many years ago, perhaps foreshadowing of the type of activity expected by agency officials when the project is done.
"It's gratifying to see so many seniors here, because this is for you," Alling said. "This started as a vision ... for a permanent and attractive home for you, and the end to Head Start children being moved from site to site .. STEP needed a permanent presence in this community to match its permanent commitment."
Creating a facility to serve as an access point for all STEP programs wasn't easy, Alling said. It required eight years of planning and development, garnering multiple funding resources from state and federal government, and the commitment of many local officials, including several boards of county commissioners, to accomplish.
Alling noted that former Lock Haven Mayor Bill Eisemann, former Clinton County commissioners Bud Yost, Richard Kyle and Dan Vilello, STEP director and commissioner Joel Long, his fellow commissioners Adam Coleman and Tom Bossert, Lock Haven Mayor Rick Vilello and many others were involved in the effort.
She also mentioned State Sen. John Wozniak, D-Johnstown and State Rep. Mike Hanna, D-Lock Haven, as the "key players" in obtaining funding for the $5.6 million project.
The two legislators and STEP needed some "audacity," she said, to make the circuitous journey through several bureaucracies in order to make the project work financially.
In the end, the project received:
n $2 million from the state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program through the assistance of state Rep. Mike Hanna and Sen. John Wozniak.
n $2.8 million in various Head Start grants.
n $250,000 from Pennsylvania Conservation Works.
n $142,500 from the Department of Aging.
"That's $5.2 million," Alling said, expressing confidence that the remaining $300,000 will be found, so that the center need not be a financial burden to future generations.
"Many hands make light work," Wozniak said. "A lot of local effort went into this project ... It's a great day in Lock Haven. You needed a new facility and the youngsters needed a new home. This center will serve the entire community, from our youngest to our most seasoned."
"It will be standing here long after I'm a senior citizen, as an investment for Clinton County," the senator added.
"When this project started I wasn't a member of the American Association of Retired Persons," Rep. Hanna said, "and now I am .. and I've had the opportunity to renew my membership several times."
Hanna said "taking care of seniors" is a core responsibility attached to taking care of the community, and expressed pride that he was able to assist in bringing the project to fruition.
"This is a phenomenal day," STEP Director and Commissioner Joel Long said. "This is what we all work hard for ... to make things like this happen ... Helping children and helping seniors, that's what good governance is all about."
When finished the center will contain nine classroom areas for Head Start and Early Head Start services, a senior center with commercial grade kitchen, an indoor exercise area for seniors and children, a large outdoor area for recreation, offices for case management, a STEP transportation service hub and other amenities.
Agencies that contributed to the effort included the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Department of Aging, the two legislators and the Clinton County Government.
The entire building is 55,640 square feet, with STEP renovating 38,800 square feet at an estimated cost of about $134 per square foot. The remaining space can be developed for expansion or rental, Alling said.
MSG/Quandel of Harrisburg is the general contractor.
STEP, more formally known as the Lycoming-Clinton Counties Commission for Community Action, Inc. is a non-profit community action agency. It has always had most of its offices and service centers in Lycoming County so the new center in Lock Haven is something of a milestone.
The agency serves individuals, including seniors through the Office of Aging, and families with housing assistance and counseling, income management services, transportation, early childhood education, workforce development and employment.
