This spring, the State College Borough will begin to offer notary services to the public at the State College Borough Municipal Building, 243 S. Allen St., Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said.
“We have a couple employees in the building who can notarize documents, but we generally haven’t made that service available to the public,” Fountaine said.
Fountaine said that the intent “isn’t to compete with any private business” and that it is a concern brought to them by members of the State College community.
“I think the primary goal is that people in the borough can notarize vehicle transfers documents in the municipal building,” Borough Council President Don Hahn said.
Sandy Ames, of Ames Notary Service, said only specific notary services, such as PennDot agents, can notarize motor vehicle title transfers. The only place that can currently notarize motor vehicle title transfers is Tri-County Tag Services, 253 Benner Pike, she said.
“[Having notary service downtown] would probably aid students because most of them have to walk so far to get to my office,” Ames said. “It will be very convenient for them to have a location downtown.”
Other documents that often require notarization are legal forms, such as identity affidavits and power of attorney documents, Ames said.
Fountaine said whether or not these services will be charged will likely depend on what is being notarized.
“To transfer a title will likely have a fee, but to notarize a signature there may not be,” Fountaine said. “We’ll make those decisions as we get closer to implementation.”
The borough will officially offer these notary services after employees receive staff training, Fountaine said.
