Partnerships increasing in Luzerne County government

Luzerne County government has increasingly turned to outside partnerships to enhance public services.

Teaming up with other entities to share costs, manpower and expertise benefits all parties involved, said County Acting Manager Romilda Crocamo.

“That’s how it should work,” Crocamo said.

A recent example is the county’s negotiation of a partnership in which the state transportation department will handle design and construction required on two bridges linking Pittston and West Pittston — the county-owned Firefighters’ Memorial Bridge (Water Street) and state-owned Spc. Dale J. Kridlo Bridge (Fort Jenkins) over the Susquehanna River.

The county will only pay 5% toward the cost of refurbishing or replacing its bridge, with the rest coming from state and federal funding.

“Bundling the bridges together saves money, resources and time in planning and execution,” Crocamo said.

She also highlighted another newer partnership with the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority.

The county will save $81,625 on its stormwater fee by providing access to county property/mapping data and other services and granting permission for the WVSA to construct and maintain a rain garden at the county-owned sports/recreation complex in Forty Fort and complete stream bank restoration on county land along Abrahams Creek in Forty Fort.

The agreement also allocates $2 million of the county’s American Rescue Plan funding to help pay for construction of the rain garden and stream bank restoration. In exchange, the county will receive $2 million in credit so it won’t have to pay a stormwater fee until the credit runs out.

These projects will beautify those areas and benefit the environment, and county government won’t have to come up with funds to pay the fee, she said.

Both partnerships required extensive dialogue and good-faith negotiations, she said.

“Everybody at the table has a stake in the outcome,” she said.

Prior county manager C. David Pedri said partnerships are essential in county government.

“I came to realize very quickly that county government cannot stand alone,” he said. “We don’t live in a bubble.”

He pointed to free July live concerts launched in 2019 at the county-owned River Common recreation area along the Susquehanna in Wilkes-Barre.

The initiative aimed to showcase the recreational amenity and attract both area residents and visitors to the park and city’s nearby downtown.

“That just started out as a conversation and came together to be something good for the community,” Pedri said.

County employees worked with a myriad of outside businesses and organizations to obtain sponsorships and equipment needed to make the concerts a reality, he said.

That experience and others made Pedri realize the county is filled with residents genuinely interested in improving the community.

He had the same sense when the counnty’s Area Agency on Aging and Emergency Management Agency teamed up with various entities last year to provide COVID-19 vaccines in senior high-rise facilities and complexes and the residences of homebound elderly and disabled residents.

The county’s partners in those initiatives included the medical societies in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, All Care Home Care and EMS of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

“This is when opportunity and persistence and coordination all meet together,” Dr. Julio Ramos, president of the Luzerne County Medical Society, said during the announcement of those programs in May 2021. “Thanks for letting us be part of the solution.”

County EMA also has worked with the state health department and other partners to provide mass vaccination clinics, prompting county EMA Director Lucy Morgan to thank all partners for their cooperation.

“Everybody just really wanted to help the community,” she had said during one of the vaccination clinics.

Area nonprofits also participated in a food/clothing drive and resource day last year sponsored by the County Cares Commission. It provided access to available services for the homeless and those with substance use disorder.

County human service division departments also worked with partners to provide a free day of educational sessions and guest speakers for the community in 2018, Pedri said. Plans are underway to hold an expo this year, Crocamo said.

“There are so many people who want to do good things for Northeastern Pennsylvania,” Pedri said. “It is just a matter of putting the right people in the same room.”

In recent years, the county also entered into partnerships with several municipalities in which county-owned roads are repaired by the county in exchange for municipalities agreeing to assume ownership after the work is completed.

Forty Fort also took over management of the county’s 35-acre sports complex in 2019 as part of an overall plan to make the borough a recreation center.