Luzerne County preparing for southern annex in Hazleton

Luzerne County is seeking proposals from outside vendors to install card-access electronic door locks at Hazleton City Hall as part of a new southern county annex in the Route 309 structure.

Responses are due at 4 p.m. on Jan. 5. The bid is posted under the purchasing department section at luzernecounty.org.

The chosen contractor must install 11 electric door locks under the direction of the county sheriff’s office, the posting says.

County council voted in November to lease space in the city hall for $6,450 per month, or $77,400 annually, from Jan. 1 through the end of 2026, with options for four additional one-year renewals at a rate negotiated by both parties.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo said satellite county offices will start setting up in the building next month. A formal opening will be announced, she said.

Crocamo said she will have a satellite office there along with representatives of the recorder of deeds, register of wills, prothonotary (civil court records/filings), clerk of courts (criminal court records/filings), treasurer’s, assessment and elections departments. Gun permits also would be processed there.

Space is available in the building because the city police department relocated to another structure, also on Route 309.

Court presence

The county court system plans to occupy space at Hazleton City Hall for probation officers to perform drug testing, a southern central court and the Hazleton magisterial district court office.

The central court and magisterial office change needed approval from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, or AOPC.

County Court Administrator Paul Hindmarsh said last week the AOPC has granted required approval.

“They thought it was a good plan,” Hindmarsh said.

Relocating the magisterial court would save $62,676 annually because the county pays $5,223 per month to lease space on East Broad Street in Hazleton for this magisterial court, officials said.

Hazleton Magisterial District Judge Joseph Zola had informed the court he will be retiring the end of this year, which means the office may be filled by a legislative appointee for the remaining two years of his term, officials said.

Until a replacement for Zola is appointed, the court will cover his district with a senior judge or other sitting magisterial district judge, Hindmarsh said, noting the Hazleton magisterial district is one of the busiest in the county.

The southern central court would be modeled after one the county set up next to the county prison in Wilkes-Barre in October 2017.

Its central processing of magisterial-level criminal cases allowed streamlined scheduling and immediate access to all parties involved in the criminal justice system, including representatives of drug court and other diversionary programs, officials have said.

The central court in Wilkes-Barre only involves magisterial district judges in the county’s northern half, and Crocamo has said a counterpart in the south would bring those benefits to the southern end.

Hindmarsh said court officials must ensure they have the appropriate safety, security and infrastructure in place before opening offices at Hazleton City Hall.

Poll books

The county administration is still performing due diligence on the potential purchase of new electronic poll books.

The county election bureau earmarked $435,000 in state Election Integrity Grant funding to purchase new electronic poll books to be fully implemented for the 2024 primary election. The county’s existing system purchased in 2018 cannot be used again due to battery problems and other issues that surfaced in the May 2023 primary election, officials have said.

Both the county election board and a panel set up by the county administration had recommended a system from Knowink.

As part of a test program, the county used new electronic poll books from Knowink at 30 polling places in the Nov. 7 general election to help determine if that system works well here.

County Election Director Eryn Harvey said last week her office has been surveying the 30 polling places about their experiences with the Knowink system and will compile the results to help in the decision about how to proceed. Council would be required to approve a purchase.

Used for voter sign-in at polling places, the electronic poll books also instantly allow poll workers to search data for voters in the wrong polling place and streamline the process of crediting voters for casting ballots in the state’s voter database.

The 156 precincts that were not part of the pilot program used paper poll books in the Nov. 7 general election.

Building renovation

Work continues on the county’s environmentally-conscious remodeling of the former Air Reserve Center in Wyoming to house the county recycling department, officials said.

County Recycling Coordinator Beth DeNardi has stressed county general fund tax dollars would not be used on the project. Instead, she has been saving leftover landfill fees and grants for many years to create an office capturing the importance of recycling and protecting the environment. This funding must be used for recycling and cannot be reprogrammed to cover roads and bridges or other county expenses.

The county had taken possession of the vacant former reserve center on Wyoming Avenue around 2019, in part because it is near the county-owned Wyoming Valley Airport and County West Side Annex.

A newly posted $58,257 contract amendment with Multiscape Inc., of Pittston, has increased the general construction cost to $2.36 million. The document said the additional work will cover the supply and installation of a parapet wall, new office construction, a concrete pad for a flagpole and rebuilding and repairing the existing soffit.

Multiscape is the general construction contractor on the project, and the county separately bid out contracts for other companies handling HVAC, plumbing, fire protection and electrical work.

The contract amendment specifies a March 16 project completion date.