LOCK HAVEN — City council voted to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds as an infrastructure update for the Lock Haven wastewater treatment plant. The consideration was brought before the board as an agenda item at Monday night’s regular meeting.

Prior to the vote on the usage of ARPA funds for the wastewater treatment plant, council voted on the first refusal of the purchase of a Piper hangar located on city property.

According to city manager Greg Wilson, the hangar is located on city-owned property and its lease agreement allows for city council to have the right of first refusal.

“In this case, the hangar sits on city-owned property which the company pays rent to the city … they also pay property tax on the valuation of the building itself… because it is located in the city compared to most of the other hangars that use the airport, it does pay tax to the city as well,” Wilson said. He added that if any member of the council wished to purchase the property, they would have dibs.

However, members unanimously denied to purchase the hangar for themselves, leaving it up for public. The hangar is located at 355 Proctor St., at the Piper Memorial Airport.

The last agenda item was the consideration of using ARPA funds for the local wastewater treatment plant. Wilson explained that the IT company who works with the sewer plant urged that the technology within the plant needs to be updated. The switches and the network, he said, from what he learned from a meeting with the company, are outdated and may cause an operational security risk. Though this is not a project previously voted on by council, Wilson believes that it was one to be pushed forward.

“This is beyond the budgeted funds that the city has available for sewer operations and needs to be done as quickly as possible since it deals with network security. …The request is, by resolution, to have council authorize the $73,863 project — using the draw down from the ARPA funds that the city has along with distribution one and two and any funds that will come in from interest in the resident accounts — there will be at least $873,847 remaining in ARPA funds,” he said.

Council member Richard Conklin explained that it would be an infrastructure update adding to the importance of utilizing the funds for the plant. He said that infrastructure is a multi-year endeavor and is something they should use the funds for.

Lock Haven mayor Joel Long proceeded carry the vote which was unanimously approved by the rest of council and himself before adjourning the meeting.