SUNBURY - The newly-consolidated Northumberland/Snyder/Union Counties PA CareerLink opening its doors next week to provide a full range of assistance to job seekers and employers is expected to save the Central Pennsylvania Workforce Development Corp. (CPWDC) more than half a million dollars.
"The Workforce Investment Board (WIB)'s recent decisions, including the consolidation of the Shamokin and Selinsgrove CareerLink offices to a centralized office in Sunbury, are actions necessary to address the recent historical and projected decreases in funding specifically designated to the operation of the PA CareerLink sites," said CPWDC Executive Director Shannon Miller in an e-mailed response to a series of questions from The News-Item.
Although locally elected officials fought to keep the separate locations open, the WIB said $1 million cuts in state funding led to their vote in November not to renew their leases and explore other options.
Most recently, a 13 percent cut in federal funding across the board led to 12 local employees being furloughed, which represented staff in Lewisburg, Williamsport, Lock Haven, Bloomsburg, Shamokin and Selinsgrove. Furthermore, Miller said they expect another 20 percent decrease in funding for the Department of Public Welfare's EARN program.
With the consolidation, Miller said no additional jobs will be lost, meaning 19 full-time employees and one part-time will be in new location.
The Shamokin lease ends this Thursday, while the Selinsgrove lease ends Aug. 10. In April, the board chose the Sunbury Municipal Building on Market Street as its new location.
Northumberland County was charging $11.35 per square foot for the Shamokin site, which amounted to an annual lease of $111,000, at the county career and arts center. Snyder County was charging $14 per square feet at the Selinsgrove site, which amounted to an annual lease of approximately $82,924.
In Sunbury, CareerLink will occupy approximately 16,900 squre feet of space, but will only be paying for 15,000 at $6.50 a square foot, which totals $97,500 a year. The lease is for two years with an option for an additional three years at no more than a 3 percent increase.
Other locations considered were the existing Shamokin building and the Sunbury Plaza on Fourth Street, said Miller.
"The municipal building offered the best price and the least amount of retrofitting to contain costs," she said.
"We're looking forward to it," said Sunbury City Clerk Terry Specht. "We're going to fill this building, which hasn't happened in years since McCann (School of Business) moved out. I'm thrilled."
The site includes 97 parking spaces - 50 for employees and another 48 for clients - in the Court Street parking lot behind city hall, plus 150 metered parking, said Specht.
"With 50 employees and 100 to 120 clients a day, they eat lunch, they buy gas and go to the grocery store," she said. "It's going to be a big economic boom for the downtown."
Although the commissioners of both counties and other elected officials were fighting to keep the two locations open, the city of Sunbury negotiated with the CPWDC, a move met with criticism.
"We looked at it as an opportunity. We didn't make the decision to move. We made the assumption that it was moving, and we would bid on it," said Mayor David Persing.
There are no private enterprises in the city able to accommodate the space CareerLink requires, he said.
"As mayor, I have to do anything to bring the people into the downtown. That doesn't mean they will, but they might. That's what economic development is," he said.
Persing noted he was looking forward to addressing the complaints about parking, an issue that is rarely uttered in the downtown lately.
The Sunbury government offices of the mayor and city clerk and council chambers have moved from the third floor to the first floor. CareerLink will occupy the second and third floors. The Shamokin move will take place this Tuesday.
Until all the moving expenses have been realized, said Miller, the cost savings by 2013 remains projected at $518,000 for all adjustments related to relocation, reductions in rent and consolidation.
"Although we projected a cost savings in 2011, the greater cost savings will be realized in 2012," she said.