Redevelopment Authority acknowledges growth

The Potter County Redevelopment Authority recognized the growth and expansion of three local businesses during its meeting Monday night.

Joe Pagano, director of redevelopment, said that Empereon was currently running two shifts with about 85 employees and had plans to bring on additional employees in March.

AP Wagner has moved into its new location on East Second Street, a move that will allow the company to expand from its current 35 employees to upwards of 80 in the future, he said.

Virtro, a high-end online marketing company, moved into AP Wagner's old building, the Farm Services Building in the Coudersport Industrial Park. Virtro is targeting about 20 employees.

The redevelopment authority also decided to uphold its current emergency weather closing policy.

Wright said he had received a memo from an employee requesting that the authority adopt the county's policy for closing in severe weather situations. He explained that the current policy is that if the downtown Coudersport merchants are open, the office is open.

"If it's bad enough that a merchant can't open his store to make a living, then we won't open," Wright said, adding that the office needs to stay open in case people need the services.

The Potter County Housing Authority squelched "coffee shop talk" about it allegedly withholding information from the public at its meeting Monday night.

Executive Director John Wright said that because of the sensitive nature of some the information, the authority was going to error on the side of caution in releasing information that it believes to be confidential.

The information in question has been sent to the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the authority is waiting for that agency to determine if the information is a matter of public record.

The housing authority is also waiting to hear back from Highmark insurance. The authority recently asked the commissioners if its employees could be added to the county's insurance group.