A few answers and more questions about Lucerne District funding requests

Project descriptions have not been released along with a list of Lucerne County’s top 75 high-performing external organizations that are set to collectively receive $60 million in federal funding for the American Rescue Plan, raising questions about how the money will be used.

The county has publicly released the names of the applicants and the dollar amounts of their proposed rewards because the county council may vote on the reward on Tuesday.

No project summary was prepared for the published list. All data submitted by the applicants is posted on the consultant’s electronic portal, which is viewed by the board members to complete the assessment, with each of them using a unique password. The consultant has not yet made the portal available to the public and administration, which means that contacting applicants individually is the only way to find out more about planned projects.

parks project

Gary Bernstein, chief executive officer of the Northeast Pennsylvania Jewish Community Alliance, said publishing the list without describing the project created problems as many concluded that the alliance itself received the largest allocation, $15.3 million.

At the request of Rep. Aaron Kaufer, R-Kingston, the alliance has agreed to act as applicant and transit organization to complete recreational improvements along the west bank of the Susquehanna River, including Nesbitt Park and Kirby Park.

Bernstein said the alliance would receive “zero funding” from the appropriation.

Kaufer said the appropriation, which may not eventually reach $15.3 million, will restore long-scheduled access to state woodlands, including a riverside strip that was cut off from the rest of Kirby Park when a dam cut the park in half in 1936. year.

Previous district officials have expressed interest in improving Kirby and Nesbitt Parks, as well as the proposed “Riverbend Park” following the completion of the east side of the Common River beautification project, but the plan fell out of sight as administration changed and funding for discretionary projects dried up.

Designed to remain mostly natural, Riverbend Park will extend from the Veterans Memorial Bridge (Pierce Street) south of the Cross Valley Expressway.

Kaufer said that Kingston, Forty Fort, Wilkes-Barre and the county’s flood protection agency are supporting the projects, but there has not been a single regional body able to receive funding from American Rescue on their behalf. He thanked the Jewish Community Alliance for acting as a conduit and said they should be commended for being “energized”.

Kaufer said that the American Rescue County allocation will allow park officials to update the past design plan and start making improvements.

“The residents of the West Side were left behind when the River Common Recreational Area upgrade was completed, and this will enable a huge asset along the river to be used for generations to come,” Kaufer said. “This is something that has been talked about for about 20 years, and we have to implement it.”

Private enterprises

The County Council decided to open America Rescue funding to all organizations, which meant that some private businesses applied, qualified, and went through the council’s evaluation.

A majority of boards rejected a proposal to fund an American Rescue program specifically for small businesses with targeted coverage and certain parameters, an approach that was used with previous federal COVID-19 recovery funding sources Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and the Economic Security Act (CARES).

Amy Bezek Photography LLC made it to the list with a $300,000 request.

Bezek has appeared at county council meetings to discuss her application, but council members have most recently told Bezek and several others that they cannot accept comments on specific pending applications as it could be perceived as lobbying.

On Friday, Bezek said she has struggled to keep her ten-year-old home photography studio alive during the coronavirus pandemic because it is 104 square feet, too small to work with social distancing. Working with the Small Business Development Center at Wilkes University, she developed a business plan to acquire a former motorhome on Wyoming Avenue in Forty Fort to house her business.

Bezek said she carefully planned the budget and funding for the project, but all costs doubled or tripled due to supply chain issues and inflation. This resulted in a $330,000 overspending, with Bezek saying that every penny of American Rescue’s funding will go towards infrastructure costs.

She said she painstakingly filled out the American Rescue application when she determined she was eligible and believes the project is worth considering as it will help small businesses and rehabilitate a worn out structure in the community. Bezek also said she already hosts frequent holiday photo shoots to raise money for local nonprofits, and more space will allow her to expand those fundraising efforts. She also plans to recruit interns to encourage more young people to stay in the field after graduation.

Bezek said she received mixed responses after the county list was released Thursday night.

“Covid has negatively impacted me on multiple levels and I am fully eligible for funding just like anyone else,” Bezek said.

Donna Kupinski, owner of DMC Graphics on Cary Avenue in Wilkes-Barre, was grateful that her $8,075 request was cut, saying she needed funding to buy a furnace.

Her existing oven is 50 years old and the amount she asked for was based on the lowest price of a base model with no bells and whistles.

“Due to COVID, my business has been hit hard and I don’t have the money to do it myself. I’m just worried that this could end at any time,” said Kupinski, who is chairman of the Volunteer Convention Center District Council that oversees the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre.

Cupinski has been in the printing business for over 25 years.

According to the listing, Staggers Southern Cuisine on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre will receive $25,000 in American Rescue funding.

Co-owner Darryl Mathis, who opened the diner in November, said the funding will allow him to host free community events to provide food and fellowship for veterans, the homeless and the LGBT community.

Mathis said he had already made sure that leftover food was delivered to those in need.

“I am very happy to know that we are on the list,” Mathis said. “It would be very nice to add to what we would like to do here.”

ValentinXStudios, located next to Public Square on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, also made the list with a $10,975 request.

Owner Daniel Valentin said his photography studio will use some of the funding to reduce the cost of professional shots for small business owners so they can use them to grow and promote their brand on websites and social media.

“There are a lot of small businesses opening up in our area and a lot of them can’t afford this service,” said Valentine, who started his business in 2021 in Kingston and moved to Wilkes-Barre last March. “It will definitely help these new ventures a lot.”

public project

Plymouth City Councilman Adam Morehart was ecstatic that his district’s $2.5 million request made the list due to his influence.

The district has requested funding to repair a 400-foot retaining wall along Cole Creek because an engineering inspection found subsidence that could cause it to fail.

If that happens, traffic will be banned on Coal Street, resulting in a 7-mile bypass downtown, he said.

The collapse of the wall could also damage Pennsylvania American Water Co.’s 36-inch plumbing that crosses the creek, causing service disruptions to 40,000 customers in the area, Plymouth Township, Larksville, Courtdale, Wilkes-Barre, Ashley, Sugar Notch and Nanticoke.

It gets worse. The loss of this plumbing line could cause 5 million gallons of water to leak from the reservoir at the top of Cole Street within minutes.

While he doesn’t want the public to panic, Morehart called it “a very serious matter” that needs to be addressed.

The canal was built decades ago and was subject to wear and tear from rocks and other debris washing off the mountain, causing the walls to begin to collapse. Cole Creek has a history of flooding, including a severe flood in 2011 that caused millions of dollars in property damage, he said.

“I am delighted with this. This is something that is desperately needed to be done,” he said of the distribution of the district to solve the problem.

Council’s plans

While 75 proposals are slated for a council vote at a Tuesday 6:00 pm meeting at the River Street County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre, it’s still unclear whether a majority will seek to make a decision pending further consideration.

Instead of relying on advice from the board or an administrative committee, the 11 board members decided to review the applications themselves so that everyone had a chance to participate.

District consultant American Rescue, Columbia, Maryland-based Booth Management Consulting, created an online portal for council members to individually review and evaluate 139 external applications based on similar factors such as project impact on district priorities, community outcomes, racial differences. equity and inclusiveness, and an overview of the overall project budget.

Since the list of awards is based on an independent assessment and parameters of the board, board members should not change it without reason because adding and removing after the names are released defeats the purpose of the scoring system, officials said. .

Council members stated that this was an unusual situation because they did not select recipients jointly through the usual discussions, debates and majority preferences.

While this process was intended to prevent bias, outside interference, and lobbying, board members were concerned that they did not know which recipients would appear on the list of awards and how the board and the public would react to the end result.

Some board members are currently asking questions and reviewing the results to understand why some projects made the list and didn’t.

Council Vice Chairman John Lombardo said on Friday that he and his colleagues have received more information about the results, and Booth is looking into other issues.

Lombardo said some losers are wondering why similar projects have received higher ratings.

“I’ve been getting calls literally non-stop since yesterday,” Lombardo said. “As it stands, I don’t see us voting for him on Tuesday.”

A list of recipients is posted on the home page of the county’s website at luzernecounty.org.

Contact Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or tweet @TLJenLearnAndes.