Luzerne County Council is set to vote on Tuesday on whether to hire Delta Airport Consultants Inc. for engineering and planning for a major renovation at the Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort and Wyoming, using $6 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding. Additional government aviation funding is also available for the 110-acre county-owned complex.
The council earmarked $6 million from the federal American Rescue Plan for improvements at the 110-acre county-owned complex, and there is more government aviation funding available, according to officials.
After a request-for-qualifications, an administration committee recommended Delta. Delta, headquartered in Richmond, Va., has an office in Harrisburg that would handle the local airport project.
If chosen, Delta would create a plan to identify which projects can be done, along with a schedule and costs.
The council's approval would be for a five-year master engagement agreement. Some funding will come from the Bureau of Aviation through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and each task will have an agreement with specified fees, officials said.
The voting meeting will start at 6 p.m. in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, with instructions for the remote attendance option posted under council’s online meetings section at luzernecounty.org luzernecounty.org.
Board appointments
The council is also scheduled to select one citizen on Tuesday to serve on the new Commission on Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement.
Five applicants were publicly interviewed: Katrina Favata, Mary Butera, Ann Marie Kochuba-Mantione, Neil Oberto and Attorney Sheila Saidman.
The commission must identify and recommend the best uses for $25 million the county is expected to receive over 18 years from the state’s settlement against opioid manufacturers and wholesale distributors. Council has the final say on how the money is spent.
Also serving on the panel are council Chairman John Lombardo, county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce, county Drug and Alcohol Administrator Ryan Hogan, county Human Services Division Head Lynn Hill, county Correctional Services Division Head James Wilbur and county Manager Romilda Crocamo.
A Republican citizen seat on the county ethics commission is also on the list to be filled. Duryea resident Ben Herring is the lone applicant for the seat, which has been vacant since the end of 2023.
The other board seats to be filled, along with the citizens on the eligibility list:
• One seat on the Northeastern Pennsylvania Health and Higher Education Authority — Joseph Donahue and Debra Yanuzzi.
• One seat on the Arts Advisory Board — Carl Frankel and Brian Gill.
• One seat on the Luzerne-Wyoming Counties Area Agency on Aging Advisory Board — Donald Warren.
• A medical/health care seat on the Luzerne-Wyoming Counties Drug and Alcohol Executive Commission — Raymond Bernardi.
A seat is also open on the county Flood Protection Authority, which oversees the Wyoming Valley Levee system along the Susquehanna River, but council can’t fill it until it formally declares it vacant, which is scheduled to occur Tuesday.
Heating/ventilation/air conditioning
Also on the schedule is the administration’s request for an extra $442,000 in federal American Rescue Plan money for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning replacement project.
The previous request for $1.5 million, which was approved, was “significantly underestimated,” while equipment costs have gone up, the administration said. Without more funding, planned improvements cannot proceed at the courthouse and county-owned Penn Place building in downtown Wilkes-Barre as outlined in the original application, it said.
So far, the county has made agreements for new Trane HVAC units at two county-owned properties as part of the American Rescue project — the courthouse annex on River Street in Wilkes-Barre and the record storage building/coroner’s office in Hanover Township.
Both contracts were given to United Heating and Air Conditioning Inc. in Pittston Township — $176,952 for eight Trane rooftop units at the courthouse annex and $124,254 to replace four Lenox rooftop units with new Trane ones at the records/coroner’s building, records show.
A majority of the council put off a decision on the additional allocation last month in the hopes of getting a lower price, but those efforts were not successful. Council agreed to vote Tuesday to make sure the units can be obtained in time to meet American Rescue project completion deadlines.
American Rescue changes
In line with the trend in recent months, a new group of approved American Rescue funding recipients have asked council to extend their project completion deadlines and/or adjust funding categories without increasing their overall awards. All deadline extension requests mention circumstances that have caused project delays.
A summary of those up for consideration Tuesday:
• Fork Over Love Inc. — switch $23,000 of its $500,000 allocation from contractor fees/printing to community meals so more residents can be served.
• North Branch Land Trust — reallocate funds within the $122,125 earmark and extend the deadline from June 30 this year to June 30, 2025, to build a public access area and complete a conservation easement at the Huntsville Reservoir in the Back Mountain.
• Municipal Authority of Hazle Township — extend completion from June 30 this year to Nov. 30, 2025, for its $2 million allocation to replace three outdated, underground wastewater/sewer pump stations with new above-ground ones and replace the sanitary sewer force main from the Hollywood Pump Station.
• Back Mountain Recreation Inc. — reallocate the entire $156,900 earmark for construction to cover increased costs of walking path improvements.
• Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office — adjust budget categories within the $1.58 million allocation to cover office materials and personnel and extend the deadline from June 30 to Dec. 31 this year.
• Freeland borough — extend the deadline from June 30 to Nov. 30 this year to complete $2 million in stormwater improvements that include new storm pipes, inlets, curbing and paving.
• Geisinger Health — extend the deadline from June 30 this year to March 31, 2025 for its $100,000 award to complete an East Mountain public health and wellness trail master plan.
Litigation, Hazleton annex
A settlement for a legal dispute with Gary Wargo is also awaiting approval from the council, although the exact amount of money involved has not been disclosed yet.
As per the agenda, Wargo lodged a complaint in the county Court of Common Pleas in 2021, claiming that he suffered physical injuries because of the negligence of the county and prison staff while he was serving a prison sentence.
There is also a proposal to reduce the lease for the space that the county is using in Hazleton City Hall for a county annex in the south.
The administration has chosen to accommodate the treasurer’s and assessor’s office along with judicial services and records offices in the building, leading to a yearly reduction of the lease by $13,710, as mentioned in the agenda.
The County Veteran Affairs has also requested to have space in the southern annex and will be placed with the administration, according to the agenda.
The new annual lease cost will be $28,650 until the end of 2025, it was stated.