Luzerne County Council considering road repair allocations

Luzerne County may use $1.8 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding to repair county-owned Main Road in Hunlock and Ross townships, according to Tuesday’s council meeting agenda.

Main Road has been ranked high on the county’s priority repair list based on assessments using road data and special software to come up with condition ratings, officials said last year.

The funding is available because the county received a federal Highway Infrastructure Program Appropriation Act earmark to repair Sweet Valley Road. Council had voted last year to use $1.86 million in American Rescue funding for that work.

Council is set to vote Tuesday on reprogramming the American Rescue funds to the Main Road project.

Another road-related issue is up for discussion in Tuesday’s work session, which follows the 6 p.m. voting meeting at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.

The agenda proposes council earmark $1 million in American Rescue funds to repair and maintain county roads and bridges. According to the resolution, council had discussed this allocation plan during the 2023 budget process.

Council already allocated $9.96 million in American Rescue funds to largely address stormwater issues along many county-owned roads.

In the first phase of this plan, the county plans to complete major drainage improvements on five county-owned roads in Wright Township in or around the Crestwood Industrial Park: Church Road, Crestwood Road, Elmwood Avenue, Oak Hill Road and William O Sword Drive, county reports say.

A roster of other roads that will be tackled with this American Rescue allocation has not yet been released.

County Engineer Lawrence Plesh has said stormwater projects are one of the allowable uses under the federal American Rescue program, and this is an opportunity to widen shoulders and regrade and set back swales that collect water along many county-owned roads. He expected the American Rescue funding also would cover associated paving of the sections requiring stormwater enhancements, which are typically the most deteriorated stretches due to water pooling or repeatedly flowing across.

Other topics

Council also may approve a $4,500 settlement to close out litigation filed by prior employee Leonard D. Omolecki Jr. alleging the county failed to compensate him for accumulated sick and vacation days and severance pay.

A prior proposed settlement of $5,000 had been tabled by a council majority in April 2021.

According to a past meeting agenda, Omolecki had filed the complaint following his separation from employment as an assistant public defender in 2003. He had worked for the county from July 1995 through November 2003, it said. The civil case was filed in 2005 and resurrected in recent years when court administration pursued a purge of unfinalized stale cases.

Omolecki’s complaint alleged he was not compensated for 108 unused sick days and 22 vacation days that he had accrued, and he claimed the county policy at that time was to provide a $3,000 severance, the past agenda said.

Council also is set to fill vacant citizen seats Tuesday on the county Redevelopment Authority, Northeastern PA Hospital and Education Authority and county Planning Commission.

During the work session, a proposed lease renewal is up for discussion with Valley Aviation Inc., the longtime fixed base operator of the county-owned Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort and Wyoming.

An ordinance also will be discussed to deposit $1.38 million in unencumbered funds from the 2022 audited surplus into the dwindling county capital projects fund.

A link to attend the meeting remotely is posted under council’s online meeting section at luzernecounty.org.