Since childhood, I have been a quote collector, and one that I have used in recent years more than any other has been by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who said, “Every organization is either living out the birth of a new vision or the death of an old one.” A more succinct quote in the same vein is by my absolute favorite author, Anonymous, who said, “When you are through changing, you are through.”

The Lycoming County Commissioners had change thrust upon them by the COVID mandates rolled down from Harrisburg starting in March 2020. The commissioners quickly realized that the format of a friendly working session on Tuesdays and an ‘official’ by-the-book commissioners meeting on Thursdays would not work during the COVID crisis. They shifted to two ‘formal’ meetings. They realized that due to the limitations on gatherings, a livestream video of the meetings would be appropriate, as well as allowing telephonic communication as a substitute for in-person presence. They then posted these on YouTube for those who could not watch them live.

It was a little rough in the beginning, but they learned in the process, largely by responding to the public’s response. They repositioned the single-camera to a better angle and moved the podium to the front of the room where those who are addressing the commissioners are to speak from. It made quite a difference to see the person talking rather than just hearing a voice. Of course, these were all cosmetic changes, but they signified that this board of commissioners was willing to move in a different direction than in the past.

Entering into a post-COVID world, the commissioners are continually trying to find new and creative ways to engage the public in county government affairs. The latest has been the new agenda item entitled, “County departments and what they do for you,” initiated at the June 28th meeting. Right after the opening elements of the meeting, a department head will describe their department and how it helps the public.

At that June 28th meeting, the first presenter was Jeffery Hutchins, Director of the Department of Public Safety. As I have noted in previous columns, “Hutch” maintains a department that covers a staggering array of services from public safety, emergency responding, flood monitoring, and much, much more.

The following week, July 6th, was Director of Human Resources, Roxanne Grieco. Her staff of four, counting herself, have responsibility in sixteen different areas that cover everything from job descriptions and recruitment to records management and retirement and much, much more. They do this for 537 full-time employees, 101 part-time employees in 30 different departments. They also must provide the HR responsibilities for the ten elected officials.

The meeting on July 13th featured Gregory Bonsall, Conservation District Director. Greg’s presentation was very colorful, confronting popular misconceptions of his department (it is only to benefit farmers) by engaging in a question/answer that showed the vast breadth of his department’s responsibility.

The point of all this is that had COVID never happened; there would probably still be two meetings a week, one informal and one formal, with the same format that had been used for decades. The commissioners took advantage of the necessity to respond to a crisis by redesigning their meetings to meet the broader needs of the public. And to their credit, they are continuing to revamp them to be more informative and useful to the public.

The public meeting is simply the tip of the iceberg of changes that have needed to be made in the past sixteen months. Navigating change to cause the least disruption, least expense, and maximum benefit is extremely challenging, to say the least. The county commissioners are not batting 1.000, of course, but their batting average is pretty darn good. The recent development of introducing each department in a short bio at the beginning of each commissioner meeting is a good example. For a simple investment of ten to fifteen minutes a week, Lycoming County residents can get a vivid picture of these departments that are serving them. The public would greatly benefit by checking these out on the county website, http://www.lyco.org.