Vacancies on several boards are scheduled to be filled during Tuesday’s Luzerne County Council meeting, the agenda said.
Additional citizen candidates are expected to be added to the appointment eligibility list following a public council authorities/boards/commissions committee meeting at 6 p.m. this evening (Monday).
The most high-profile appointments council will be deciding Tuesday are two on the county election board that must be filled by one Democrat and one Republican. To date, the only applicants that have completed interviews and met eligibility requirements are Republican Roxanne Arreguin, of West Pittston, and Democrat Audrey Serniak, of Plains Township, who had served on the board from July 2019 through 2023.
Tuesday’s agenda said council also plans to appoint citizens to the Convention Center Authority, Tax Assessment Appeals Board, Drug and Alcohol Executive Commission and Mental Health Developmental Services Program Advisory Board.
Tuesday’s council’s meeting is in the courthouse, with remote attendance instructions posted under council’s online meeting link at luzernecounty.org.
As previously reported, council also is set to vote on requested allocations for two downtown Wilkes-Barre hotel projects Tuesday.
The first is $3 million toward a $37 million, 112-room Gateway Hyatt Place Hotel and Conference Center on a 2.1-acre lot at River and Market streets where the landmark Hotel Sterling once stood. The other would provide $2 million for Bloxton Investment Group to acquire and convert the former First National Bank building on Public Square into an upscale restaurant linked to a 105-room “Tribute by Marriott brand” boutique hotel it is creating inside the adjacent Luzerne Bank Building already owned by a Bloxton entity, BIG Public Square LLC. That project is estimated at $23.8 million.
Committee assignments
Tuesday’s agenda lists council committee assignments made by council Chairman John Lombardo:
• Budget/Finance/Audit — Brian Thornton, Chris Perry, Gregory S. Wolovich Jr. and Jimmy Sabatino
• Act 13 (reviews natural-gas recreation funding spending) — Thornton, Kevin Lescavage, LeeAnn McDermott and
Patty Krushnowski
• Authorities/Boards/Commissions — Thornton, Lombardo, Perry, Brittany Stephenson
• Code Review — Harry Haas, Wolovich, Krushnowski, Lombardo
• Legislative — Wolovich, Joanna Bryn Smith, Sabatino, Lombardo
• Real Estate — McDermott, Sabatino, Lescavage, Stephenson
• Strategic Initiatives — Haas, Smith, Lescavage, Stephenson
• Review Committee (helps prescreen proposed tax breaks, union contracts and other pending matters that must come before council) — Krushnowski, Wolovich, Smith
• Infrastructure — Sabatino, Haas, Krushnowski, McDermott
Airport consultant
Three companies responded to the county’s request-for-qualifications to provide engineering, architectural and environmental consulting services for extensive upgrades planned at the county-owned Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort and Wyoming, county Manager Romilda Crocamo told council last week.
The responders: Benesch, Delta Airport Consultants Inc. and KBA.
Crocamo said a committee will conduct interviews and prepare individual rankings.
A consultant is needed because council had voted in July to earmark $6 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for capital improvements at the 110-acre airport, with some council members saying the county largely ignored the facility’s needs for decades. Additional funding also is available through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), county documents say.
Some of the work is necessary to comply with current aviation standards, such as enhancements to taxiway areas that accommodate aircraft landing and taking off, officials have said. New hangars also are in-demand and would generate revenue.
American Rescue projects must be completed by the end of 2026, officials have said.
Consultant responses were due Dec. 14.
Tax break
A public presentation on a requested real estate tax break for two adjacent Hazle Township properties has been delayed to February at the request of the developer, Hazleton Logistics LLC, county officials said.
The presentation originally had been scheduled for the Jan. 9 council work session.
Hazleton Logistics is seeking a break under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) program for blighted properties, which means the property owner pays real estate taxes on the land throughout the break and receives a discount on taxes for the new development.
The company plans to construct 802,732 square feet of industrial space in two buildings on adjacent lots in the Hunboldt Industrial Park in Hazle Township.