Luzerne County Council to discuss Keystone Job Corps lease

The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking Luzerne County Council approval to extend the Keystone Job Corps lease for one more year — a request up for discussion at Tuesday’s council work session, county Manager Romilda Crocamo said Thursday.

The federal agency announced in late May it would pause operations at all 99 of its contractor-operated Job Corps Centers by June 30, including the Keystone Job Corps housed on 123 acres of leased county-owned property in Butler Township. These residential centers provide educational and vocational programs for low-income youth and young adults ages 16 to 24.

A federal judge in New York recently granted a preliminary injunction to stop the labor department from shutting down the Job Corps programs until a lawsuit against the move is resolved, the Associated Press reported.

The county owns approximately 530 acres in the township, including the Keystone Job Corps site, because the county had operated the Kis-Lyn work camp for juvenile delinquents from 1912 to 1965.

Prior county commissioners had approved a 50-year lease extension with the federal government for Keystone in 2001.

Under this lease structure, the agreement ran from Sept. 1, 2001, through Aug. 31, 2002. The lease then automatically renews each year, for 49 years, unless the federal government notifies the county it does not want to continue it.

Crocamo said the request on the table would change the lease to continue for only one more year.

The county receives $1,000 per month from the lease. The lease acknowledges the county is charging less than a fair market value rental fee due to the federal government’s investment in infrastructure and salaries at the Job Corps site in addition to benefitting the community through the purchase of goods and services.

Crocamo said she was informed the upkeep of the site costs the federal government approximately $1 million annually.

How many students attend the local job corps center?

Some students have left, but others remain, she said. An exact count was not immediately available from a Keystone Job Corps representative Thursday afternoon.

Keystone had 467 active students last month, including 401 from Pennsylvania and 11 who were considered homeless, Crocamo had said. The facility was working with students on alternative housing.

Blaming significant financial deficits, the federal government had said it would work with state and local workforce partners to help students advance their training and connect them with education and employment opportunities.

The National Job Corps Association, a nonprofit trade organization comprised of business, labor, volunteer and academic organizations, sued to block the suspension of services, alleging it would displace tens of thousands of vulnerable young people and force mass layoffs, the AP reported.

The judge rejected the department’s claims that it did not need to follow a congressionally mandated protocol for closing down Job Corps centers because it wasn’t closing the centers, only pausing their activities, the AP said.

Crocamo has said it appears the buildings on the county-owned land will “revert back to the county when the lease is terminated.”

There are 44 buildings at the complex, including dormitories, classroom and vocational education structures, a dining facility and buildings linked to storage and utilities, according to a list she had supplied to council.

U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan Jr., R-Dallas Township, issued a release this week about his participation in a roundtable with local stakeholders and elected officials to discuss the direct impacts of Keystone Job Corps Center in Northeast Pennsylvania.

“Right here in NEPA, Keystone is transforming lives, putting our local students on the path to success,” Bresnahan said in the release. “By providing training for in-demand fields like construction, healthcare, and manufacturing, they are being set up for family-sustaining careers, building the confidence needed to live meaningful lives, and contribute positively back to our communities.”

The release said Bresnahan joined nearly 200 of his colleagues signing a letter to U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer to show support for the Job Corps program and ask the labor department to reconsider the announced closures.

County council’s Tuesday work session follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for the remote attendance option will be posted in council’s online meetings section at luzernecounty.org.