Payments requested for Luzerne County workers involved in American Rescue processing

Luzerne County Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a request to provide stipends to two workers heavily involved in federal American Rescue Plan management in addition to their regular job duties.

The workers — budget/finance office administrator Mark Majikes and grant writer Michele Sparich — would each receive $7,500 under the proposal, to be paid by American Rescue funding, the agenda said.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo said the stipends would not be factored into their base pay.

The resolution said both workers have taken on a significant role involving the management and administration of American Rescue awards, and oversight costs are eligible for funding.

Council had voted in June to keep Columbia, Maryland-based Booth Management Consulting as the county’s American Rescue consultant for three more years at a total cost of $783,391. This contract covers grant execution packages, reimbursement requests, training, technical assistance, monitoring and the closeout of projects to ensure the expenditures withstand federal auditing.

But Crocamo said there also is extensive work that must be completed on the county’s end that has been assigned to Majikes and Sparich.

Both employees also will be rounding up and tracking grant information for an American Rescue database of all funded projects that Crocamo wants to post and update on the county’s website, she said.

An online database is warranted, Crocamo said, to inform county residents how the funds are being used and monitor the progress of the expenditures.

While the county has provided a detailed explanation of internal projects, the only released summary of $55 million in awards to 113 outside entities was compiled by Councilman Matthew Mitchell in April. Mitchell had said he spent hours producing his own report because he did not want to leave the public in the dark for an indefinite period.

Council members had reviewed the applications through the consultants portal, which meant there were no public presentations or discussions beyond the names of the outside entities and award amounts.

Crocamo said her tentative goal is to start posting more information about all outside projects online this fall.

The county recently posted an overview of its $112.89 million American Rescue plan that includes information on internal county government projects on the main page at luzernecounty.org.

Council’s most recent American Rescue earmark, approved last month, was $6 million for capital improvements at the county-owned Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort and Wyoming.

Officials had said this would leave a little over $1 million in remaining American Rescue funding to disburse, not including interest earnings on funds not yet turned over to recipients. A subsequent communication from the county’s budget/finance division indicated the county earned $2.08 million in interest on those funds through June this year.

Council’s voting meeting starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for remote attendance are posted under council’s online meeting link at luzernecounty.org.