Dallas City News

Five recipients of Luzerne County’s federal American Rescue Plan funding are asking county council to grant more time to complete their projects or to modify the scope.

Council is set to vote on the requests Tuesday.

The county Flood Protection Authority, which oversees the Wyoming Valley Levee system along the Susquehanna River, is seeking permission to eliminate two projects and add one that was inadvertently omitted — stressing it won’t exceed the county’s overall $8 million American Rescue allocation, the agenda said.

The added project would replace Wilkes-Barre floodwall expansion joints on the 1.46-mile levee stretch between the county courthouse and the intersection of Riverside Drive and Pickering Street, said authority Executive Director Christopher Belleman.

Joints filled with sealant were necessary to allow the concrete to expand and contract and prevent cracks, he said. The concrete covers interlocked steel sheet pile that provides the primary flood protection.

This levee stretch contains nearly 21,000 linear feet of expansion joints that are two decades old and at the end of normal service life, he said. The proposed project would remove all existing joint materials, prep the joint surfaces and install new sealant materials, he said.

To pay for this project, the authority proposes eliminating a $627,000 rehabilitation of stormwater pump impellers and a rehabilitation design of the Wilkes-Barre/Hanover Township and Plymouth levee stretches.

The approximately 30 pump impellers were installed in 1940 and rebuilt as part of the levee-raising, he has said. They are still functional but were originally included in the request as part of ongoing maintenance because they have become worn.

Belleman said this project may take too long, in part because motors inside the 13 pump stations must be removed to access the impellers.

The system’s 13 pump stations contain deep-well pumps that handle drainage from the land side of the levee when it can no longer naturally feed into the Susquehanna during a flood.

The levee rehabilitation design was first proposed to address a “freeboard” safety buffer deficiency atop the Wilkes-Barre/Hanover Township and Plymouth levee reaches that had threatened to cause flood insurance rate hikes. Belleman said the authority subsequently restored accreditation of both reaches through a fresh U.S. Army Corps of Engineers risk assessment using revised evaluation techniques that no longer deem freeboard a major determining factor.

Bids for the joint sealant project are due Tuesday, and Belleman said work can commence immediately if council approves the change.

The authority had agreed to complete all projects by the end of this year, he said.

Other modifications

Yatesville was awarded $224,100 in American Rescue funding for a sewer project.

The borough is seeking an extension due to several levels of state permitting required before it can complete the design and bid out the project, the agenda said.

Sewage overflow conditions also must be monitored during four months of wet weather that includes both spring and fall rain periods, it said.

As a result, the borough is asking to extend the date funds must be obligated from June 30 to the end of this year and set a Nov. 30, 2025 deadline to spend all funds.

The other requests, according to the agenda:

• County Mental Health/Developmental Services received $800,000 to purchase two buildings to operate two mental health crisis and stabilization centers in the county. Walk-in crisis centers provide continuous observation and supervision when in-patient services are not required for those in distress.

A total $4.035 million in Managed Care Reinvestment Funds has been earmarked for the new Wilkes-Barre center through the nonprofit Northeast Behavioral Health Care Consortium.

Consequently, the county agency is asking to reprogram the entire $800,000 to renovate an existing building in Hazleton for the center serving the county’s southern half.

In Wilkes-Barre, the nonprofit Family Service Association of Northeastern Pennsylvania will operate a crisis center in its property at 31 W. Market St., which is located in the block between River and North Franklin streets, officials have said.

The second crisis center will be in Hazleton and operated by the nonprofit Northeast Counseling Services in its property at 750 E. Broad St. near the Lehigh Valley Hospital. Actual services will be contracted separately and covered by private insurance, Medicare, managed care and possibly human services block grant funding.

• The Lower South Valley Land Bank was awarded $500,000 for its affordable housing and blight reduction initiative.

It is seeking to extend the grant period of performance from June 30 this year to June 30, 2026.

Established in November 2022, the land bank acquired blighted properties at the county’s August free-and-clear delinquent tax auction but did not receive the final deeds from the county until January due to required court confirmation of the sales.

The land bank is in the process of securing quiet title on the properties with plans to demolish and/or rehabilitate them.

• The Sanitary Sewer Authority of the Borough of Shickshinny received $387,000 for a wastewater treatment plan rehabilitation.

The authority needs more time to investigate and design a coating replacement for a tank that has been out of service for several years, and the coating operation can only be performed during warm weather.

It is seeking a grant performance extension from June 30 this year to the end of this year and a Nov. 30, 2025, deadline to expend all funds.

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

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes