Nanda Palissery, chairman of Luzerne County’s reactivated Wyoming Valley Airport advisory board, makes a point during Thursday’s meeting.
Jennifer Learn-Andes | Times Leader
Luzerne County’s Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort and Wyoming could be infused with $6.45 million for enhancements, officials said Thursday during the second meeting of the airport’s reactivated advisory board.
Councilman Kevin Lescavage has been urging colleagues to earmark $6 million of the county’s approximately $8 million in unallocated federal American Rescue Plan funding for runway improvements and other needs that had been identified in the airport master plan.
County Manager Romilda Crocamo told the advisory board Thursday the administration and American Rescue consultant have established the airport work would meet American Rescue eligibility requirements because the complex operates an in-demand pilot training program, serves as a fueling station for medevac and law enforcement aircraft and addresses needs in the travel industry.
The next step is identifying which projects at the airport could be finished by the December 2026 American Rescue completion deadline, Crocamo said.
In addition, the county has an outstanding $450,000 earmark for the airport from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation that had not been activated because the county did not have $450,000 available for the required 100% match, Crocamo said. The American Rescue funding could be used as a match to unlock those additional state funds, she said.
Lescavage, who is serving as the county council liaison to the advisory board, said the 2026 completion deadline won’t be a problem because the airport projects already have finished an engineering review and are “shovel ready.”
Crocamo said she is attempting to present a proposal to council for consideration at its July 11 meeting.
Advisory Board Chairman Nanda Palissery described the funding possibility as “fantastic” and “good news.”
He and the five other new advisory board members toured the 110-acre airport complex earlier this week with Valley Aviation, the airport’s fixed base operator. In addition to Palissery, the board members are: Michael Berish, Alice Frantz, Theodore Ritsick, Scott Serafin and David Sieminski.
Council members have been pushing to fill vacant seats on the board because it had become dormant for years, cutting off a vital resource to promote and advocate for the facility the county acquired in the 1940s.
Council is soon expected to fill the four remaining vacant advisory board seats because a council committee publicly interviewed more citizen applicants earlier this week.
Palissery said he left the airport tour impressed with the facility.
“I didn’t know it was as busy as it is, honestly,” he said.
Ritsick said he was riding his bike atop the Wyoming Valley Levee Thursday and was pleased to see families sitting along the path watching the aircraft.
Sieminski said the tour was “definitely enlightening” and made him aware of the past “missed opportunities” to maximize the airport’s potential.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
