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Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Scranton completes 40 projects fixing damage from 2018 flooding
Scranton has completed 40 projects totaling $5.5 million that improved eight waterways and infrastructure damaged by severe flooding in August 2018, officials said. Scranton city officials who spoke about the flood-restoration projects at a caucus of Scranton City Council on Tuesday included Fire Chief John Judge, city engineering project coordinator Morgan Fetsock, city Engineer Tom Reilly, who is president of Reilly Associates, and that firm's project manager, Joey Seidita, according to an Electric City Television video of the meeting posted on YouTube. Some of the work that occurred in recent years involved stabilizing streambanks, removing sediment and repairing a large section of river levee wall and two bridges. 'This makes the city a safer place,' Judge said of completion of the numerous projects. 'This is critical for the city of Scranton and this should be applauded that this is now finished. It was a lot of hard work from a lot of partners here in the city.' Impacted waterways included the Lackawanna River, Stafford Meadow Brook, Roaring Brook, Meadow Brook and the Lindy, Leggetts, Keyser and Leach creeks. The overall project got delayed, first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then by the severe flash flooding event of September 2023. But the final work recently got completed and the city now is closing everything out for continued federal/state drawdowns of funding to cover costs, Judge told council. The final project to get completed also was the single largest project undertaken — the replacement of 130 feet of the levee wall along the Lackawanna River, a short distance upstream of East Elm Street in South Scranton, and which cost over $1 million, officials said. Reilly told how the levee wall was compromised by the 2018 storm because when it was constructed in the 1950s, the wall was butted up to a foundation of a former meatpacking plant that had been there. When the plant was removed and the earthen levee was added, the old basement wall was left in place as the flood wall, 'which was not at all constructed like a flood wall or a retaining wall,' Reilly said. Other work completed included: Removing 39,300 cubic yards of sediment and material from waterways, or 4,000 triaxle dump truck loads. Stabilizing a total of a quarter-mile of streambanks with 6,270 cubic yards of riprap rock. Repairing an over-150-year-old retaining wall at the historic Iron Furnaces. Repairing a pair of bridges carrying Oak and Jackson streets over creeks. Removing 102 trees. Along with having to obtain dozens of private and commercial easements for work to occur, the overall project also involved permitting, oversight or involvement of various agencies and entities. Those included the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state Department of Environmental Protection, state Fish and Boat Commission, Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad, Scranton Iron Furnaces and private and commercial property owners. Every project had to be reviewed by the Army Corps of Engineers, DEP and commission. Trout and bat restrictions also limited times when work could occur. 'Getting this project to the finish line was critical, but I think it also highlights some of the challenges we may have going forward,' Judge said. 'As we all know, there's a lot of changing going on in the federal government. We don't really know what's going to happen if we have another one of these events. We've seen disaster declarations recently turned down, not in our state, but I think it's important that we continue to maintain these waterways.' Judge also thanked council for timely passages of pieces of legislation regarding contracting. 'When these events happen, timeliness is very important. Going forward, just keep it in the back of your mind, we need to move quickly,' Judge told council. 'To be able to move contracts through council quickly, to make sure we're getting contractors in place that can start and perform that work is crucial.' He added, 'There was a lot we learned through this, and I think that we're better poised going forward to be able to deal with and mitigate these incidents.' * Repairs of a levee wall along the Lackawanna River a short distance upstream of East Elm Street in South Scranton are underway on Jan. 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * Repairs of a levee wall along the Lackawanna River a short distance upstream of East Elm Street in South Scranton are underway on Jan. 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * Repairs of a levee wall along the Lackawanna River a short distance upstream of East Elm Street in South Scranton are underway on Jan. 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * Repairs of a levee wall along the Lackawanna River a short distance upstream of East Elm Street in South Scranton are underway on Feb. 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * Scranton city officials spoke about flood-repair projects at a caucus of Scranton City Council on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, from left, city engineering project coordinator Morgan Fetsock, Fire Chief John Judge, city Engineer Tom Reilly of Reilly Associates and that firm's project manager Joey Seidita. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB: ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE) * Scranton City Council members during a caucus on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, from left, Tom Schuster, council President Gerald Smurl, Mark McAndrew and Jessica Rothchild. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB: ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE) Show Caption 1 of 6 Repairs of a levee wall along the Lackawanna River a short distance upstream of East Elm Street in South Scranton are underway on Jan. 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) Expand
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fresh dispute over 13-year-old, two-sided billboard in downtown Scranton
SCRANTON — A fresh dispute centers on a 13-year-old, two-sided billboard downtown at 320 Mulberry St. The sign structure supported by one large pole has two angled billboard frames, with one billboard sign facing east and one facing west, and both readily visible to traffic on Mulberry Street. The sign structure was erected in 2012, apparently without city zoning approval, according to discussion during the city's Historical Architecture Review Board meeting Thursday simulcast by Electric City Television and posted on its YouTube channel. A two-sided billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in front of the north wall of a four-story building along Oakford Court and that fronts on 317 Linden St. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) The signs facing in both directions on this billboard structure previously were 'static' vinyl-type banners. HARB, an advisory board within Scranton city government, heard an application Thursday by Kegerreis Outdoor Advertising of La Plume Twp. to replace the static signs with digital signs. 'We recently purchased the structure at 320 Mulberry St. with a lease interest and we were hoping to convert the static panels that are on that current billboard and change them to digital displays,' company representative Scott Kegerreis told HARB. The company already had removed both static signs and installed one digital sign facing west, before the city issued a stop-work order, Kegerreis told HARB. A two-sided billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in front of the north wall of a four-story building along Oakford Court and that fronts on 317 Linden St. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)One side facing west of a two-sided billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in front of the north wall of a four-story building along Oakford Court and that fronts on 317 Linden St. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) The city at first thought Don Mammano, who owns the four-story apartment building right next to the billboard structure that's at issue, was doing the sign work and contacted him about it, he told HARB. Mammano in 2013 bought the building called 317 Linden that spans the block between Linden and Mulberry streets. But the billboard structure was separate and not owned by Mammano, he said. He also was surprised to learn that digital billboards were going up there, right next to the north-facing wall of 317 Linden that has a large painting advertising his rentals in that building. 'For me to find out on a Saturday that I got a call from the city that I'm putting a billboard up, which I wasn't, and then I found out that it was being done without a permit with a stop-work order on it,' Mammano told HARB. Don Mammano, owner of the 317 Linden building in downtown Scranton speaks about a billboard at 320 Mulberry St.., which is shown in the red circle at the rear of his 317 Linden building, during the city's Historical Architecture Review Board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE) Mammano objected to the conversion of the billboard faces from static to digital on several grounds, including: the structure apparently never got zoning approval; its dimensions do not appear to match a prior permit that had been obtained from the city to erect the sign structure; his question of whether the sign structure could support the weight of digital signs; and aesthetics. 'I just think there is no right or reason to have a double-sided digital billboard hanging over Mulberry Street,' Mammano told HARB. 'It just seems a little obnoxious to have a double-sided digital billboard that close to Mulberry Street.' Mammano also said he realized that there already are other digital billboards and signs in the area, but their circumstances might be different from the one in question at 320 Mulberry St. HARB member Katie Gilmartin said, 'I understand there are a lot of other digital signs in that vicinity. I tend to agree. I'm a little hesitant to move forward with adding another digital sign and yet I want to make sure we're being consistent with that as a board.' A digital billboard on a parking garage in the 500 block of Mulberry Street is shown in red circle on a slide shown during the city's Historical Architecture Review Board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE)A digital billboard at the intersection of the McDade Expressway and Mifflin Avenue in Scranton is shown in a red circle in an image shown during the city's Historical Architecture Review Board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE) HARB showed images of other digital signs or billboards in the Mulberry corridor area, including one on a parking garage in the 500 block of Mulberry Street, and a two-sided sign structure mounted on a pole at the intersection of the McDade Expressway and Mifflin Avenue. Gilmartin also noted HARB previously had denied an application for a digital sign on Courthouse Square. Kegerreis said the zoning office told him that if HARB was on board with the digital conversion, 'then we were good to proceed forward.' HARB voted 3-0 — with Gilmartin and board members Conrad Bosley and William Lesniak all in favor — to table the Kegerreis application for further review with the zoning office. The board also will find out if the city's new zoning ordinance enacted in 2023 grandfathers in such a nonconforming use as allowable, according to the HARB discussion. Scranton's Historical Architecture Review Board on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, from left, Conrad Bosley, Katie Gilmartin and William Lesniak. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE) Kegerreis said his company has been in business for 44 years and never encountered such a situation. 'I purchased the structure and the permits with a giant miscommunication between the two parties of saying 'you could do this project.' When I went to do it, unfortunately Don (Mammano) was caught in the middle of it, and rightfully so was upset about what was taking place,' Kegerreis told HARB. 'It was a bad situation that I personally feel bad about it, but we're trying to resolve it.' Scott Kegerreis of Kegerreis Outdoor Advertising speaks about a billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton during the city's Historical Architecture Review Board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE) HARB expects to revisit the application for a resolution at its next meeting March 13 at Scranton City Hall. 'We'll have to follow up with zoning. Sorry, we'll have to bring you back next month and hopefully in the interim we can get answers to all the questions the board has,' HARB solicitor John Finnerty said. Kegerreis replied, 'I realize it's a unique situation.' * A two-sided billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in front of the north wall of a four-story building along Oakford Court and that fronts on 317 Linden St. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * A two-sided billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in front of the north wall of a four-story building along Oakford Court and that fronts on 317 Linden St. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * One side facing west of a two-sided billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in front of the north wall of a four-story building along Oakford Court and that fronts on 317 Linden St. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) * A billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton in May of 2012. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / GOOGLE STREET VIEW) * A billboard with a Dunkin' ad at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton in April of 2023. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / GOOGLE STREET VIEW) * A billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton in May of 2012. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / GOOGLE STREET VIEW) * A billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton in Nov. of 2022. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / GOOGLE STREET VIEW) * Scott Kegerreis of Kegerreis Outdoor Advertising speaks about a billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton during the city's Historical Architecture Review Board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE) * Don Mammano, owner of the 317 Linden building in downtown Scranton speaks about a billboard at 320 Mulberry St.., which is red circled and at the rear of his 317 Linden building, during the city's Historical Architecture Review Board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE) * A digital billboard on a parking garage in the 500 block of Mulberry Street across from historic 1888 Scranton City Hall, is shown in red circle on a slide shown during the city's Historical Architecture Review Board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE) * A digital billboard along the McDade Expressway where it become Mulberry Street near the intersection of Mifflin Avenue in Scranton is shown in red circle on a slide shown during the city's Historical Architecture Review Board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (IMAGE SCREEN GRAB / ELECTRIC CITY TELEVISION VIA YOUTUBE) Show Caption 1 of 11 A two-sided billboard at 320 Mulberry St. in Scranton on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in front of the north wall of a four-story building along Oakford Court and that fronts on 317 Linden St. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) Expand
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Scranton Housing Authority seeks outside review of operations, finances
The new board overseeing the Scranton Housing Authority will hire a consultant to review the agency's operations and finances. The board voted 4-0 — with Chairwoman Sarah Cruz, Megan Alpert, Julie Schumacher Cohen and Michael Hanley all in favor — at its regular monthly meeting Monday to issue a formal request for proposals, called an RFP, for a consultant to review the organizational structure and operation of the Scranton Housing Authority, according to a video of the meeting by Electric City Television posted on YouTube. A consultant would 'look at the operations and finances of the housing authority holistically, to see what else needs to be done going forward with this organization to continue to move it to a place of greater solvency and transparency,' Cruz said. It's the latest issue raised by the board that now has a majority of new members recently appointed by Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti. Scranton Housing Authority members, from left, Julie Schumacher Cohen, Chairwoman Sarah Cruz and Michael Hanley, during their monthly board meeting on Monday, Jan. 6, 2024. SHA members Devendrabhi Dave and Megan Alpert participated in the meeting remotely, via phone. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) The new board in December and January dealt with proposing and enacting a rent increase at the financially struggling Park Gardens apartment complex, which is unique within the SHA. At a special meeting Jan. 13 when the board adopted the rent increase, members described Park Gardens as having long been mismanaged, with no policies, procedures or income-verification on who gets to live there. Admissions were based on favoritism. 'Throughout the years, it is I think well known in the city that individuals are given preference (for residency at Park Gardens) based on who they know,' Cruz had said at the Jan. 13 special meeting. The Scranton Housing Authority held a special meeting Monday, Jan. 13, 2025 to raise rents at the Park Gardens apartment complex in Green Ridge. From left are board members Michael Hanley, Julie Schumacher Cohen, Megan Alpert and Sarah Cruz, seated at a table in the basement of St. Clare Church, where the meeting was held. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO) At its meeting Monday, authority Executive Director Karl Lynott said the SHA is creating a new application process for apartment rentals at Park Gardens. The board also reiterated that the authority had received last month an unsolicited offer from a realty firm to buy Park Gardens, but the apartment complex is not for sale and the offer was rejected. A view of Park Gardens in Scranton Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) The Scranton Housing Authority operates 11 rental facilities or complexes, as well as scattered apartments, throughout the city. Park Gardens is the only SHA complex without a low-income threshold for residency. The other 10 and the scattered apartments operate under federal Housing and Urban Development rules and regulations. As for the board now looking to hire an outside consultant to review SHA operations and finances, Schumacher Cohen said such an evaluation is necessary. 'I think we received a lot of feedback' at the Jan. 13 special meeting, Cohen said. 'There's interest in transparency and also looking at best practices, just getting ideas from other communities.' Hanley added, 'Hopefully as we move forward there will be more confidence from the public on what is actually happening here with the Scranton Housing Authority as we become more and more transparent.'
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Divided Scranton council passes pay raises for its members and mayor
In a pair of 3-2 votes, a split Scranton City Council on Tuesday raised the salaries for the mayor and council members to take effect in 2026. Council President Gerald Smurl, Bill King and Jessica Rothchild voted in favor of adopting the pay-raise ordinances, while Mark McAndrew and Tom Schuster voted against the salary increases, according to an Electric City Television simulcast and video posted on YouTube. The pay of the mayor will rise from $75,000 to $95,000, a 27% increase of $20,000; while the pay of council members will increase from $12,500 each to $18,000, a 44% increase of $5,500, all effective Jan. 1, 2026. Under the city's Home Rule Charter, council cannot authorize mayoral and council pay raises during current terms of office, but can raise salaries to take effect in the future. The term of Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and the council seats held by Smurl, King and Schuster all expire at the end of 2025. Those positions will be available for nominations in the May 20 primary election and will have winners determined in the Nov. 4 general election. The Scranton mayoral salary last was raised in phases from 2014 to 2017. Those mayoral salary increases were enacted in 2013 by then-outgoing Mayor Chris Doherty and outgoing council led by Janet Evans. Those phases increased the mayoral salary from $50,000 in 2013 to $60,000 in 2014, and then gave $5,000 bumps per year in 2015, 2016 and 2017, when the salary reached $75,000. Council salaries have not risen since 1999. The Home Rule Charter appeared to conflict on whether the council salary increases should apply to all five members at once, or if some members would have to wait longer to get a bump. So, council first amended the ordinance to clarify that the salary increases would apply to all five members come Jan. 1. 'When you look it at out of fairness, that makes sense. They (former enactors of the Home Rule Charter) certainly wouldn't want to establish a system where two or three members of council were receiving one level of pay, while two or three members were receiving a lower amount,' council solicitor Thomas Gilbride said. McAndrew cast the lone vote against amending the clarification because he was against the pay raises all along. In voting against the salary increases, McAndrew said, 'People are struggling and I just don't have an appetite at this time.' Schuster said of his dissent, 'I just feel my compensation is sufficient.' Noting he will not run for reelection, King said the council pay raise is long overdue. 'In 1976, the salary for council was $7,000. Forty-nine years later — actually almost 50 years later, when this is fully enacted — I think (an) $11,000 (increase) is more than reasonable,' King said. 'I feel it's appropriate. That's why I'm supporting it.' Council also voted 5-0 to adopt an ordinance to raise the salary of the tax collector next year from $53,300 to $72,000, in conjunction with the Scranton School District that pays for half of the salary. The 35% raise of $18,700 amounts to about 2.5% per year since the last raise for tax collector, in 2011, Smurl previously said. Council members noted the tax collector took on more duties last year and the pay raise is warranted.
