After a month of pondering options, a Luzerne County Council majority voted Tuesday on a system to provide federal American Rescue Plan awards to outside entities.
Council also voted to set aside at least $5 million in American Rescue funds for a yet-to-be-defined public relief program and at least $5 million for a small business grant program that would be administered by the Greater Pittston, Greater Hazleton and Wyoming Valley chambers of commerce.
Another $16.4 million was allocated for internal county department projects.
Outside awards
A council majority approved the following caps for outside awards: municipalities/municipal authorities, $2 million; nonprofits, $500,000; and small businesses, $200,000.
These caps could allow 115 outside entities to collectively receive $56.27 million in American Rescue funding, according to a list prepared by Councilman Matthew Mitchell, who drafted the plan.
Of these, 78 entities would receive all requested funding.
The remaining 37 applicants not receiving the amount they sought would have to submit revised budgets demonstrating how they would scale back their projects or provide additional funding through other means to complete them as originally proposed. Those unable to adjust would be deemed ineligible and removed from consideration, freeing up those funds for other purposes, council members said.
It must be stressed that the actual recipients and awards are not yet approved.
Council members said they will be voting on the recipients — likely individually instead of as a group — at an upcoming meeting.
They may vote on the fully-funded roster first because the 37 not receiving the entire requested amount must have time to submit new budgets.
The recipient list, as proposed in Mitchell’s plan, is posted as an attachment to Tuesday’s meeting agenda at luzernecounty.org.
Seven council members approved the plan submitted by Mitchell: Carl Bienias III, Vice Chairman John Lombardo, LeeAnn McDermott, Tim McGinley, Mitchell, Chris Perry and Chairwoman Kendra Radle.
The four voting against Mitchell’s plan: Kevin Lescavage, Brian Thornton, Stephen J. Urban and Gregory S. Wolovich Jr.
Wolovich said he supports the original plan to fully fund the entities that received the highest scores from council until awards reach the $60 million threshold for outside earmarks that had been set by council. He said he does not support the revised plan that carves out funds based on caps instead of scores.
Urban, Lescavage and Thornton had unsuccessfully supported an amendment to increase the municipal/municipal authority cap to $3 million.
Thornton and Lescavage argued West Pittston should receive $3 million toward its proposed levee along the Susquehanna River, saying that application was among those with the highest scores in the original group. Thornton said the funding is needed for a local match to construct a levee estimated to cost $50 million to $60 million so the borough can survive if there is a repeat of record 2011 flooding that ravaged the municipality.
When colleagues argued this cap adjustment would push expenditures over $60 million, Thornton suggested council remove small businesses from the current pool and have their applications processed through the upcoming chamber grant program.
Lombardo said the cap plan, as approved, makes the awards as equitable as possible to provide funds to a broad group. While noting he doesn’t personally agree with some entities slated to receive funding, Lombardo said he supports the majority of applications, and wants to get the funding in their hands as soon as possible for projects benefiting the county.
Other awards
Plans for the public relief and chamber grant programs will be discussed in detail at upcoming meetings, council members said. Both were unanimously approved.
The $16.4 million in American Rescue Plan allocations to various county government departments includes $9.96 million to largely address stormwater issues along many county-owned roads and $2.98 million for two initiatives at 911 that enhance the new emergency radio communication system activated last year.
The first 911 request for $1.4 million would add a feature transmitting the GPS coordinates of emergency responders, providing their current location when they communicate on the new system. The remaining $1.6 million would allow 911 personnel to remotely connect to the more than 4,000 emergency radios in the field so they don’t have to physically hold them to complete software and firmware updates.
McGinley unsuccessfully proposed council vote on funding the 911 remote radio programming feature Tuesday and delay action on the rest until each impacted department head publicly presents information on how the funding will be spent.
Perry concurred, saying he doesn’t recall all the specifics of each project and that the public has a right to know more about the projects. A work session presentation could be scheduled promptly, he added.
Lombardo said the road and bridge work is as urgent as the 911 radio programming, so he would want to proceed immediately with that as well. A majority agreed to proceed with a vote on the entire package.
In the final vote, the internal awards were approved by eight council members. McGinley, Thornton and Urban voted no, saying more information on the projects should have been publicly presented.
Council has still not released any details — or a means for the public to access details — about the work that will be completed with the funding, prompting complaints from county Controller Walter Griffith and some citizens. Several council members said they are working to address that.