12/30/2007
Nanticoke couple displaced by fire
Heidi Ruckno - Citizens Voice

A Nanticoke City couple was displaced Saturday evening after a fire at their Ridge Street home, authorities said.
The fire broke out around 6:34 p.m. at rear 151 Ridge St., the home of Leonard and Verna Dynterko. It started in a bedroom closet and was extinguished within minutes, Nanticoke fire Lt. Richard Bohan said.
Damage was contained to that bedroom, but the rest of the home sustained some slight water damage, Bohan said.
Firefighters helped Leonard Dynterko escape from the home, but he refused medical treatment at the scene. The couple was expected to stay with relatives Saturday night, Bohan said.
Assisting at the scene were firefighters and ambulance personnel from Hanover and Newport townships.

12/28/2007
Nanticoke saves money when state certifies city’s safety committee
Savings equal $9,247, or 5 percent of worker comp insurance bill.
slong@timesleader.com

Nanticoke is entering the new year expecting a little extra cash in its coffers.
The city will save $9,247, or 5 percent, on its annual worker compensation insurance bill because the state Department of Labor and Industry certified the city’s safety committee earlier this month, Finance Manager Holly Quinn said.
The city usually spends about $165,000 on the insurance annually.
About 40 city employees, volunteer firefighters and volunteer ambulance members are covered under Nanticoke’s worker compensation plan.
Declared a financially distressed city in the last year, Nanticoke has looked for ways to save money without cutting services.
“I was excited. I want to save money wherever we can,” Councilman Joe Dougherty said.
“We need it to pay bills.”
The committee formed in March in an effort to promote workplace safety by presenting training seminars on a variety of safety techniques to help prevent illnesses or injury and to increase employee productivity.
Since its inception nine months ago, the committee has presented a fire extinguisher seminar and taught public works employees how to properly lift heavy materials.
Men in the public works department now think twice before trying to lift something that might be too heavy for them and ask for help, Quinn said.
Each city department has one representative serving on the committee, which meets once to twice a month to discuss safety classes that can be offered to employees.
Next year the committee hopes to hold a CPR training class, Quinn said.

12/25/2007
Byorick progresses as Xavier hoops reserve
College athletics Bill Arsenault - Times Leader

12/24/2007 Hurdles to revitalization not so high By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com Despite recent setbacks, Nanticoke and Luzerne County Community College officials remain optimistic about the sale of the Kanjorski Center on East Main Street, especially since one hurdle is not as high as expected. LCCC wants to buy the Kanjorski Center for its health sciences center, a project that city, county, college and state officials say will be the keystone of downtown revitalization. Sale agreements are in progress, and a final price has not been determined. Obstacles to the sale include possible delays in a county bond containing $20 million for LCCC projects, the loss of $5.6 million in federal funding for a parking garage and the prospect of having to pay back a $1.8 million grant. “We are proceeding with every expectation this is going to move forward, and I have every confidence that it will,” LCCC President Thomas Leary said. Good news is that the city’s municipal authority, which owns the Kanjorski Center, might only have to pay back a small percentage of the $1.8 million to the federal government in order to sell the building. State Rep. John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke, recently met with federal Economic Development Administration officials in Philadelphia. “They were enthusiastic about the project and committed their full support to helping us complete the deal,” he said. Under the terms of the $1.8 million EDA grant used to construct the Kanjorski Center in 1994, the building must be used for economic development. If the building is sold or used for other purposes, the municipal authority either has to get permission from EDA for the new use or pay the money back, according to Paul Matyskiela of the EDA Philadelphia Regional Office. Nanticoke and Luzerne County Community College officials have two options: They can convince EDA to allow the Kanjorski Center to be used for educational purposes, in which case they wouldn’t have to pay the agency back. But EDA would still control the building, and it would be subject to federal restrictions. They pay EDA whatever sum to which the agency agrees after submitting an assessment adjustment. Then federal involvement is removed from the project entirely. Matyskiela estimates the city might have to pay the EDA only $385,000, based on the required appraisal of the outside of the Kanjorski Center the municipal authority submitted. EDA is waiting for the authority to add any adjustments to the appraised value of the building. “Obviously, if the appraised value of the building goes down, that amount will also,” Matyskiela said. City officials were pleasantly surprised to hear that, since they expected to have to fork over the whole $1.8 million. “It’s news to me, but it’s very good news,” City Administrator Kenneth Johnson said. The cash-strapped city does not have the money, but Johnson thinks a deal should be worked out to pay the $385,000, noting, “We’ve spent money on things less valuable than this.” Paying off the EDA might make more sense, Matyskiela believes. City officials are exploring both options. “They made the argument that it was job training; we didn’t say no, but we want them to put it in writing and make a case for it. But do they want to have us hanging around?” Matyskiela said. “Their decision is, basically, what is it worth to you to get the federal government out of your hair?” But the decision may have to wait. Nanticoke General Municipal Authority Chairman Ron Kamowski said any deal with EDA is in limbo until the county frees up $20 million for LCCC to buy the Kanjorski Center. The $20 million bond Community colleges have only one funding source in the state’s capital budget: the Community College Capital Fund. LCCC received $10 million from the state for the first phase of its master plan, and Luzerne County pledged the required $10 million match. But officials fear a complaint filed with the state Department of Community and Economic Development to stop the county from borrowing up to $93.5 million could hold up the project. The amount includes the $20 million total for LCCC. Luzerne County activist Tim Grier, who filed the complaint, said LCCC should have asked the Pennsylvania State Public School Building Authority for a low-interest loan. Then the county could pay back $10 million and the state could kick in its $10 million, without the county having to float a $20 million bond, he said. “This authority exists strictly to help community colleges like LCCC with building projects. LCCC bypassed this authority and went straight to the county,” Grier said. “There was a way cheaper option to go.” Leary said he was only recently made aware of the Pennsylvania State Public School Building Authority. He stressed LCCC was following the procedure all community colleges follow, and fulfilled all the requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Education. “The county has traditionally supported capital projects,” Leary said. “This is a very ambitious project, but the college followed the protocol which has been established for a long time. … This is the funding we are familiar with.” No parking zone The biggest blow was the loss of $5.6 million for a parking garage. U.S. Rep Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, re-routed federal transportation funding for the project. City officials now have to steer money away from other projects — such as most of a $2.3 million grant meant for paving roads — to build the Kanjorski Center’s garage. Surface parking near the building is limited. When the Kanjorski Center was fully occupied, the municipal authority ran shuttle buses between it and a parking lot on Lower Broadway. Leary said the college made it clear that in order to move downtown, it needs approximately 375 parking spaces for students and faculty. Main Street businesses also want more parking. “It’s not a luxury,” Leary said. “It’s a necessity people expect when they come into town.” Johnson agreed the parking garage is critical to the project. “What LCCC is accepting as a fait accompli (an accomplished fact) is that we provide the parking,” he said. “We can find another way to do it, but it will be difficult without Kanjorski,” municipal authority member Dennis Butler said. “We have all the pieces in place, except for him.” Kanjorski said lack of the garage should not inhibit LCCC’s plans to move forward, a viewpoint contradicted by local officials — and himself. On May 10, 2005, Kanjorski wrote in a letter to a former municipal authority chairman: “(One) of our top priorities should be the construction of a parking garage to be used by the tenants of the Kanjorski Center and customers for downtown Nanticoke businesses. The language I inserted into the highway bill specifically authorizes use of the funds for a parking garage. … Building a parking garage is necessary for the future economic viability of the Kanjorski Center.” Yudichak called Kanjorski’s idea a parking garage could be built five years down the road “preposterous.” “We have private investors willing to put up their own money in a new restaurant and new commercial space. How do you tell private investors, ‘take a seat on the bench for five years and we’ll see if we can get something for down the road?’” Yudichak said. “How many more years do the hard-working people of Nanticoke have to wait to get help in revitalizing their city?” Kanjorski said he took the money away because he heard at a July 2006 public meeting, Nanticoke’s mayor and council said they didn’t want a parking garage. He said he didn’t want to see the money lost, noting city officials have a pattern of not using money he obtains for them. That angered city officials, who had frequently stated their intentions of building a garage. They just disagreed with Kanjorski on its size: they wanted to build it smaller. They also wanted a tenant for the center, vacant since October 2005. “City officials never said no to the parking garage, never said no to the money,” Yudichak said. “They said, ‘scale back the parking garage and find us some tenants and some private investment.’” Nanticoke Councilman James Litchkofski wants an explanation from Kanjorski. “Besides Nanticoke being his hometown, we are his constituents. We employ Paul Kanjorski, the taxpayers do. He governs through the consent of the people, not arrogance,” Litchkofski said. “If he makes decisions that affect the lives of thousands of people, then he needs to get to Nanticoke and tell those people why the money isn’t coming.” Kamowski is pessimistic about further federal money. “If the congressman says we have not been communicating with him, we beg to differ. City officials and Leary have met with Kanjorski, and he told them that the $5.6 million was definitely taken away, and he was going to bring bigger, larger, easier-to-use moneys to the table,” he said. “The congressman never gave concrete information about where the money would come from.”

12/24/2007
Municipal authority sees development possibilities at Concrete City site as its next project
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

Someday there might once again be well-kept houses and green lawns at a historic, former experimental housing community.

The closing nonprofit Regional Equipment Center gave Concrete City, located off Front Street in the Hanover section of Nanticoke, to the municipal authority for a $10 consideration.
“We’re the proud owners of the deed now,” Municipal Authority Chairman Ron Kamowski said.
The authority is tied up with selling the Kanjorski Center on East Main Street to Luzerne County Community College for a health sciences center. Concrete City will be its next focus.
“Once the LCCC deal is on its way and moving, we want to look into turning it into a little upscale residential community,” Kamowski said. “We don’t want industrial. They would want the land for free, no taxes, then in 10 years they’d move.”
Concrete City, which consists of 39 acres in Hanover Township and Nanticoke, contained 20 two-family residences built in 1911 by Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad’s coal division. Homes rented for $8 a month to favored employees of the Truesdale Colliery. Each house is constructed entirely of poured concrete, which made it unique at the time — and to this day.
Concrete City closed in 1924 when Glen Alden Coal Co., which took over the development in 1921, balked at putting in a sewer system to replace the concrete outhouses. The homes still stand, reduced to crumbling concrete shells adorned with paintball splats, target practice bullet holes and graffiti.
The municipal authority will have to work out what to do with the concrete houses.
“We would definitely like to see one of the structures remain and be restored as a monument to the area. You don’t need six or eight of them sitting around,” Kamowski said.
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission designated Concrete City a historic site and erected a marker in 1998. Because of its status, municipal authority members were concerned about their ability to sell the property.
That shouldn’t be an issue, a PHMC spokeswoman said.
Concrete City was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places 16 years ago, but it has to be re-evaluated, PHMC public relations specialist Jane Crawford said in an earlier interview.
“The owner can sell this property to anyone,” she said, but cautioned, “If a developer, for example, is going to use state or federal funding and state permits, the Historical and Museum Commission would review the plan because of this National Register eligibility.”
That includes permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection or the federal Army Corps of Engineers, Crawford said.
“The agency (PHMC) works with people in this situation for the best outcome,” she said.

12/23/2007
Nanticoke borrows $300,000
The tax anticipation note will cover expenses until tax revenues start rolling in.
slong@timesleader.com

The city is borrowing $300,000 as a short-term loan in early January.
City Administrator Kenneth Johnson said the so-called tax anticipation note is common among municipalities to help them cover daily expenses until property tax payments and earned income tax revenues start rolling in.
While Nanticoke is still considered an Act 47 financially distressed city, Johnson said the city is doing better with cash flow since earned income tax revenues recently started pouring in.
“Right now we haven’t even dipped into the sewer fund. We’re paying payroll. We’re paying most of our bills through EIT (earned income tax),” Johnson said. “We’re doing better. I’m much more optimistic than I was a few weeks ago,” he said.
Council members approved accepting the loan from PNC Bank during the monthly meeting Wednesday night.
Officials tried to get competitive bids from other banks, including M&T. Johnson said even after a last minute phone call was placed earlier in the week, M&T never submitted a proposal.
But the city will still see some savings in interest costs because PNC Bank dropped the interest rate to 3.39 percent from 3.59 percent.
“When the fed (federal government) dropped the rate a quarter-of-a-point, I went back to them (PNC) and said could you reissue a new rate, and they said sure,” Johnson said.
He was unsure of exactly how much money the city would save.
The loan must be repaid by Aug. 31, 2008.
The $250,000 short term loan taken out in July at a 4.34-percent interest rate from PNC Bank will be paid back by Dec. 31. The city will pay roughly $5,425 in interest for this year’s loan.
Johnson said the city has enough money to repay the loan.

12/20/2007
Nanticoke officials hope to settle contracts
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

City officials are anxious to settle contracts for Nanticoke’s seven public works employees and six clerical employees so they can be sure the 2008 budget is accurate.
The contracts expire Dec. 31. Kenny James, a 33-year employee of the public works department, urged council on Wednesday to think of the “little guys” in the ongoing negotiations.
“The only thing we’re asking for is, be fair,” he said.
Resident Hank Marks spoke up on their behalf, saying the public works and clerical employees are loyal, and they aren’t the problem — police and fire salaries are higher.
James agreed, saying he didn’t begrudge the police and fire departments their contracts, but noted, “We’re the little guys. We don’t have the power of the union.”
Public works employees are represented by the Teamsters Local 401, police by the Fraternal Order of Police Wyoming Valley Lodge No. 36, and firefighters by the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2655.
The public works department has shrunk from 37 employees when James started in 1974 to seven today. Employees have gone without raises, new equipment, and undergone several health insurance provider changes, he said.
James, who also sits on the Greater Nanticoke Area school board, said he understands the cash-strapped city’s position. The teachers’ contract expired in August 2005 and negotiations are still in progress.
Nanticoke’s financial recovery plan, drawn up by the city’s recovery coordinator Pennsylvania Economy League, calls for minimal raises for clerical employees — none the first year of the contract and $800 a year for the second and third. It also calls for employees to share equally in cost increases to their portion of the health care, vision and dental insurance the city pays for.
Nanticoke would realize bigger savings by raising doctor’s visit and prescription co-payments instead of having a premium share, James said.
Council passed the $4.18 million budget 4-1 on second reading, with Mayor John Bushko voting no.
Tax collector Al Wytoshek wanted to know whether total real estate tax is 44 or 44.5 mills. A mill is $1 on every $1,000 assessed valuation.
The city levies 30 mills for general purposes and 0.5 percent for the Mill Memorial Library. Wytoshek sparred with city officials over whether the debt service millage is 13.5, as he said, or 14 mills as Johnson and PEL said.
Debt service millage can only be used for outstanding loans. Last year the city paid off its 1995 loan and part of its 1998 loan, PEL Executive Director Gerald Cross said, so council lowered the 29.38 debt service millage for 2007.
Wytoshek said the county tax bills say 13.5 mills for debt service. Regardless, Johnson said, the 14 mills was properly advertised and within the law. Unlike for an increase in general purpose millage, municipalities don’t have to petition county court to raise debt service millage, a fact confirmed by solicitor William Finnegan.

12/20/2007
Nanticoke’s 2008 budget includes no new taxes
Council members increased the city’s earned income tax to 2 percent earlier this year.
slong@timesleader.com

Council members approved the 2008 budget of $6.7 million during Wednesday night’s regular meeting.
But residents will be happy to know their taxes are not going up. At least not right now.
Residents will still pay a 2 percent earned income tax, which was increased earlier this year.
City officials acknowledged the city might need to raise taxes for debt services in 2009 because the debt service millage was reduced too much when council members figured the 2007 budget.
In 2006, the millage set aside for debt service was 30 mills, but it was reduced more than half to 14 mills for 2007, City Administrator Kenneth Johnson said.
“They were able to drop it because they changed the whole tax structure of the city with earned income taxes,” he said.
“But from what my finance director has told me – and I don’t do that analysis because that is her job – she tells me that the 14 is actually too low.”
He said a former council member suggested lowering the debt services but council lowered it too much.
The city’s property tax rate for 2008 will remain at 44.5 mills, which Johnson said is the same as this year’s tax rate, with 30 mills paying for the general fund, 14 mills paying for debt service and 0.5 mill paying for the library. A mill is a $1 tax on each $1,000 of assessed property value.
City Treasurer Al Wytoshek asked if the city could leverage a tax rate of 44.5 mills without getting approval from a Luzerne Court of Common Pleas judge.
City Solicitor William Finnegan, Pennsylvania Economy League Executive Director Gerald Cross and Johnson informed Wytoshek the city only had to appear before a judge for such a request if the general fund tax rate would be higher than 30 mills.
Mayor John Bushko was the sole vote against the budget, saying he felt the funds allocated for attorney’s fees were too high. He said if some of those funds were cut the city could apply more money toward capital projects to fix the city’s roads.

12/15/2007
Teacher strike at GNA averted, for now
By mguydish@timesleader.com

The threat of a teacher strike at Greater Nanticoke Area has ended – at least for the short term – according to a union official who credits the progress made in negotiations this week.
Jane Brubaker, of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said enough success had been made during Wednesday’s negotiations to satisfy the union and prevent a strike that had been threatened to start as early as Monday morning. A strike was threatened Dec. 3 when the school board voted to reject a state fact-finder’s report that offered a compromise between the latest offers made by each side.
Frustrated with the pace of talks that have been going on since 2005, the union had urged the board to reconsider and vote to approve the report. The union voted to accept the fact-finder’s report.
By state law, the board had 10 days to do so, which meant a second vote had to occur by Thursday. Since the union must give a 48-hour notice before a strike, the earliest a strike would occur would be Dec. 17.
The board made no public attempt to meet for a second vote, but a negotiation session was held on Wednesday. Brubaker said some progress was made so there would not be a strike on Monday.
But, she added, “There is still a possibility that one will occur in the future.”
Though the contract talks have been largely quiet and out of the public eye, the fact-finder’s report revealed the chief sticking points, including the board’s effort to have teachers pay part of their health insurance premium and a change in tuition reimbursement for teachers who take additional college courses.

12/13/2007
GNA school board, teachers union make progress in informal talks
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

The Greater Nanticoke Area school board and teachers union negotiating teams met informally at the high school Wednesday to talk about the recently released report from the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board fact-finder.
The school board is not going to re-vote on the report, member Robert Raineri said.
But he indicated the session, which was just between the teams, without attorneys present, went fairly well.
“We’re making a little headway here. We need to tweak a few health insurance issues,” Raineri said. “We’re looking at raising their deductibles, trying to find a happy medium.”
GNA teachers, without a contract since August 2005, took a strike authorization vote on March 14. The Greater Nanticoke Area Education Association could give the district 24-hour notice on Friday and start striking Monday.
Pennsylvania State Education Association spokesman Paul Shemansky said striking is an option, but suggested it may not be necessary if the two sides keep on with contract talks.
“I think negotiations are going to continue to take place here. That’s a good thing,” Shemansky said. “I don’t think they’re too far apart.”
Health insurance is one of the main sticking points in negotiations. The report by fact-finder Robert C. Gifford, Esq., a neutral third-party, took into account contract proposals from both sides.
GNAEA wants to raise deductibles and co-payments for doctors’ visits and prescriptions, saying it would cost the district 2.3 percent less for a traditional plan and 4.3 percent less for a voluntary Health Maintenance Organization plan.
The school board wants teachers to pay a premium share in 2007-08 of $10 per paycheck for single coverage, $12 per paycheck for husband-wife or parent-child coverage, and $15 per paycheck for family coverage. In 2008-09, teachers would pay 3 percent of their premiums, and in 2009-2010 they would pay 4 percent.
Gifford sided with the teachers, because their proposal “offers plan design changes that will provide cost savings to the District.”
Teachers accepted the fact-finder’s report on Nov. 29. The board rejected it on Dec. 3. The board had 10 days starting Dec. 5, when the report was made public, to re-vote. Under state law, both sides must let each other and the Pennsylvania Labor Relations board know for a second time whether or not they accept the report.

12/12/2007
LCCC officials worried
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com and bjarvis@citizensvoice.com

Luzerne County Community College officials are concerned delays in state approval of Luzerne County’s borrowing plan will hold up new projects in downtown Nanticoke.
The state approved LCCC’s master plan earlier this year, and Phase I is under way. The college was supposed to get $20 million from a county bond to help pay for it. The state would reimburse $10 million; the other $10 million is from the county.
College President Thomas P. Leary is concerned about the potential loss of the county’s $10 million share, as well as the effect a delay in the funding would have on establishing the expanded programs.
At the LCCC board of trustees’ Tuesday meeting, members approved a motion by Dr. Thomas O’Donnell to refrain from moving forward until it was certain money would be readily available.
According to trustee and Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak, if political activist Tim Grier succeeds in his effort to stop the county from borrowing up to $93.5 million, it would have a direct impact on LCCC.
“I’d be lying if I said it would not have an effect on this college, and not a good one,” Skrepenak said. “We may have to default on our payment, which would threaten our ability to secure financing.”
Still, Leary and Skrepenak expressed confidence funding would eventually be secured, although it might have to come from other sources.
Leary said the $20 million would be used for:
Continued construction of the Public Safety Training Institute, for certification of emergency personnel.
Purchase and renovation of the Kanjorski Center on East Main Street in Nanticoke into a Health Sciences Center for the nursing, dental hygiene respiratory therapy, surgical technology and Emergency Medical Services programs.
Equipment for the culinary arts institute, which the college wants to create in a leased facility to be built by a private developer at Market and Main streets in Nanticoke.
The college is still moving ahead with a sale agreement and architectural plans for the Kanjorski Center, Leary said. LCCC had hoped to occupy the building by January 2009.
In the worst-case scenario, opening would be pushed back a semester until fall 2009, Leary said.
“It may be that I’m optimistic by nature, but I believe it’s going to happen. So many people have worked so hard that I can’t see it failing,” he said.
The Nanticoke General Municipal Authority, which is responsible for the Kanjorski Center, had hoped the sale could be consummated quickly. The authority is broke, and has to borrow $45,000 a year from the financially distressed city for maintenance and utilities.
“Luckily, the weather’s been with us, so we’re not super-buried in utility costs. But it’s still an in-the-red proposition,” authority Chairman Ron Kamowski said.
Nanticoke Mayor John Bushko said selling the Kanjorski Center is the first step in downtown revitalization. Several private investors have expressed interest in new projects because of LCCC’s plans.
“We’re just going to have to pray for the best, because that’s a must for the whole downtown. That’s the key project,” Bushko said of the sale. “I guess we’re just going to have to wait and see.”

12/11/2007
A mission to clean up Quality Hill Playground
By kziolkowski@citizensvoice.com

During the last 10 years, Quality Hill Playground in Nanticoke gradually became a center for dumping and teenage mischief. It’s easy accessibility to all terrain vehicles and vandals made it a hot target. But one man came from behind the curtain to turn the local park into a destination for children of all ages.
Kenneth Gill, 43, is a Nanticoke resident who has lived approximately 100 feet from the entrance to the park his entire life. When he was younger, the park was thriving with children, local sports teams and families. The park always had a constant flow of moving traffic until a few years ago when the grass on the ball fields grew too high, the rest rooms were vandalized and the equipment slowly decayed due to age. The local Little League stopped using the field and all attention turned away from the eyesore.
Gill watched as the once flourishing park began to slowly fall apart right before his eyes and decided to take action. Since the 1950s and 60s, a group called the Quality Hill Playground Association was responsible for the upkeep of the park. Since most members of the group had passed on, Gill decided to take the reigns as president. Through word of mouth, he was able to gain more than 20 supporters in a short amount of time to join his quest in revitalizing the park.
Since joining the association in 2000, Gill has lead his group of volunteers in removing most of the dumped material from the baseball field, restoring the restrooms, putting up new basketball and tennis nets, repainting and replacing equipment, cleaning out buildings and erecting a new sign in front of the park.
Gill and the association applied to the Lowe’s Heroes program for the park. Lowe’s Heroes volunteer teams are made up of employees from the local store, representatives from nonprofit organizations and concerned individuals from the community. The teams work with homeowners, community groups and schools on safety projects. After reviewing his application, the group spent two whole days repainting the restrooms, putting a new roof on the sandbox, repainting the exterior of the buildings and installing new steel doors on the rest rooms. In the spring, Lowe’s will return to install new rest room fixtures.
Recently, Gill and the Quality Hill Playground Association have been running fundraisers such as selling lottery tickets and comedy club tickets as well as asking for donations from local businesses. Currently they will depend mainly on the services of volunteers to clean the park in early April, when they run their annual Easter Egg Hunt. The association has requested money from the city, but has been told that there are no funds available for such projects.
Future plans for the park include cleaning out the largest building in the park and turning it into a pavilion so families can start to enjoy the park together.
Gill truly exemplifies the meaning of a local hero. His dedication to the association and the playground, as well as its surrounding neighbohood is something to be admired.

12/10/2007
Regionalized police force recommended in draft study
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

Three South Valley communities could benefit by combining their police forces, according to the draft of a study by a regional police specialist.
For the last year, representatives from Nanticoke City and Newport and Hanover townships have been meeting with the Pennsylvania Economy League as part of the South Valley Regional Police feasibility study.
Consultant Bryan D. Ross, retired chief of the Berks-Lehigh Regional Police Department, drafted a report. It estimates the three communities could save more than $400,000 and have a better-trained force that is more efficient and more effective at fighting crime. The new department would provide 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week coverage, PEL Policy Specialist Joseph L. Boyle said.
The study recommends at least 29 full-time officers, the total number in the three communities now: Hanover Township has 16, Nanticoke has 12, and Newport Township has one. Manpower and salaries would not be decreased, Hanover Township Commissioner Jeff Lewis pointed out.
“Almost everybody would be making close to $50,000. That’s not bad for a cop in Luzerne County,” Boyle said.
The only thing officers are not guaranteed is that they would keep their rank, he said.
Nanticoke Mayor John Bushko is pessimistic.
“It doesn’t save you any money at all. Not a dime,” he said. “I would like to see it work, but there is no financial gain for us at all.”
The combined department would go with the highest salary of the three, Hanover Township, he explained. For example, in Nanticoke patrolmen are paid $40,131 a year, while in Hanover Township they are paid $46,076.
Nanticoke was declared Act 47, or financially distressed, by the state in May 2006. Nanticoke’s financial recovery plan, drawn up by PEL, states, “The city shall continue to aggressively explore alternative policing arrangements with special emphasis on the creation of a possible regional police commission.”
Incoming Nanticoke Councilman Jon Metta said from what he’s seen of the study, combining police departments makes sense.
“It probably would save money and provide better overall coverage,” Metta said. “We still get a vote on how our money is spent, too.”
Opinion on regionalization is divided among Nanticoke’s 12 full-time officers, Bushko said. A regional department might be better for career advancement, because there’s not much chance for promotion in Nanticoke, he said.
The officers in a regionalized department would have better training, which Bushko said he sees as one of the few advantages.
The three communities are experiencing a rise in criminal activity, Newport Township Commissioner John Zyla believes. A regional police department with specialized officers could help solve crimes better, he said.
“Am I in favor of it? Absolutely,” Zyla said. “I think it would be beneficial to our community ... with the expertise we are going to get. As long as it’s affordable.”
The regionalization report is only a draft, Lewis emphasized. Officials from all three municipalities say they want more information before making any decisions.
“We’re looking into some different options on how we can structure it (the regional department),” Lewis said.
There will be a public presentation of the study by Ross on Jan. 24 at Luzerne County Community College. During a meeting in February, officials of the three municipalities will discuss whether they want to take the study further.
“It will be interesting to see if it does pan out, since we have so many variables,” Lewis said.

12/7/2007
Bidder asks GNA to table copier contract
By Elizabeth Skrapits - Citizens Voice

A disgruntled bidder questioned the Greater Nanticoke Area bidding process Monday, claiming it unfairly favored the current vendor for a copier contract.
District resident Robert M. Hughes, representing Edwards Business Systems of Scranton, asked the GNA board to postpone voting on bids for a five-year photocopier lease and maintenance agreement.
The only bidder to receive full specifications was the current vendor, Topp Business Solutions of Scranton, Hughes alleged.
The other two bidders were not given specific information about the district’s needs, such as what kind of computer network it has, or whether the bid was for unlimited copies.
“This at the very least should be tabled, and the information given to all bidders,” Hughes said. “This is not a fair contract for taxpayers.”
The board didn’t table the vote, but instead approved a contract with low bidder Topp. Topp bid $277,500, Edwards bid $297,186 and Xerox of Wilkes-Barre bid $304,900.
The spec sheet that bidders are given contains a bare minimum of information. Hughes said he asked for more, but never heard from the district secretary, and GNA’s information technology coordinator said he couldn’t call Hughes from a cell phone inside the school building.
Superintendent Tony Perrone said copier specs were available for three weeks, but Hughes only came to see him four days before bid deadline. Perrone said he sent Hughes to the people who generally deal with such matters, and if Hughes couldn’t get to them, he should have told Perrone.
Board member Robert Raineri said after the meeting that he would investigate the bidding process.
“I’m going to question how that was done, just for my own satisfaction,” he said. “We have to make sure these bids are fair to everyone.”

12/7/2007
GNA negotiating teams reschedule meeting for next week
By Elizabeth Skrapits - Citizens Voice

Greater Nanticoke Area teachers and school board negotiating teams didn’t meet Wednesday as planned, due to weather conditions in Nanticoke, school board member Robert Raineri said.
The two sides will get together next week instead, to discuss the fact-finder’s report, which was released publicly on Wednesday.
The meeting will just be between the negotiating teams, according to Jane Brubaker, the teachers’ Pennsylvania State Education Association representative.
“Their solicitor will not be there, I will not be there. It’s just going to be a meeting with local folks,” she said.
GNA teachers approved the fact-finder’s report, but the school board rejected it. The board now has seven days to reconsider.
State law requires that no less than five and no more than 10 days after the report is made public, the board and union have to notify each other whether they accept the report or not.
“I hope they can come to an agreement, and the board will realize this is something that will not cause a tax increase. It’s well within their budget,” Brubaker said of the fact-finder’s recommendations. “With in excess of $8 million in their budget reserves, they are in excellent financial condition.”
GNA teachers have been without a contract since August 2005. The main issues are health care and salaries.

12/6/2007
Fact-finder’s report for GNA teachers contract dispute released with report
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board released the fact-finder’s report for the Greater Nanticoke Area teachers contract dispute on Wednesday.

* Read the report

Salaries and health insurance have been the main sticking points in negotiations, ongoing since months before the GNA teachers contract expired in August 2005.
These two issues are addressed in the fact-finder’s report, along with the other four roadblocks: credits earned for a master’s degree equivalency, personal leave, tuition reimbursement and early retirement incentive.
Fact-finder Robert C. Gifford, Esq. sided with the Greater Nanticoke Area Education Association in the matter of health care. GNAEA asked for a higher deductible and increased co-payments for doctor visits and prescriptions. On salaries, Gifford recommended increases somewhat more than the district proposed, but somewhat less than the union proposed.
“If you compare what the fact-finder recommended to other (contract) settlements in Luzerne County, it is very reasonable,” said Jane Brubaker, the teachers’ Pennsylvania State Education Association representative. “It is very close to what is average to this area. It does recommend some cost savings to the district.
“This is certainly not something that would need to impact the taxpayers of the district.”
Last week, the teachers accepted the report. On Monday, the GNA school board rejected it by a vote of 6-1. The two new board members abstained from voting.
Within 10 days after the report is made public, the parties are required by law to contact the board and each other a second time about whether or not they accept the fact-finder’s recommendations.
“We’ve accepted the report. We will not be changing our vote. We are asking (the board) to reconsider,” Brubaker said.
Teacher and board negotiating teams met Wednesday to discuss the report, but representatives from both sides could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
The board has to wait at least five days before re-voting, Brubaker said. That window gives the public an opportunity to look at the fact-finder’s report and make comments, she said.
If the board stands firm on its decision to reject the report, the teachers could opt to strike.
“That is something the bargaining team will be considering, along with other options,” Brubaker said.
The union took a strike authorization vote on March 14, she said. If the union gives its 24-hour strike notice on Dec. 14, 10 days after the report’s release, teachers could hit the picket lines as early as Dec. 17, Brubaker said.
Based on the school calendar, she estimated the strike could last two to five days, depending on snow days. Once it starts, the state Department of Education calculates the number of days a strike can last so the district can get the required 180 days of instruction in by June 15 or the deadline of June 30.

12/6/2007
GNA contract issues released
Salary, insurance among sticking points
mguydish@timesleader.com

After nearly three years of contract talks that stayed under the public radar, the problems preventing a teacher contract at Greater Nanticoke Area are in the open, thanks to a state fact-finder report.
The issues at an impasse: “master’s degree equivalency,” personal leave, tuition reimbursement, early retirement, salary and health insurance.
The contract expired in August 2005, but the two sides started negotiations months earlier. The talks garnered scant public attention until Monday when the school board voted to reject the report. The union had accepted the report, and has threatened to strike if the board doesn’t reverse its decision.
By law, the board can do so within 10 days of the first vote.
The union asked for fact-finding, a nonbinding process offered by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, and both sides met with Fact Finder Robert C. Gifford informally on Nov. 8, followed by a formal hearing Nov. 13. Gifford issued his report Nov. 26, outlining the position of both sides and recommending an option in each case.
Master’s equivalency: The board essentially wants to eliminate this, requiring teachers to earn an actual master’s degree, rather than the equivalent number of credits, before they get incentives currently granted. The change would only apply to those hired after Feb. 21, 2007. The union wants to maintain the status quo. Gifford proposes maintaining the status quo.
Personal leave: Teachers get two days per school year with several limitations, including a buyout at $20 per day at the end of the school year. Teachers also have the option to convert unused personal days to sick days. The union wants to change the contract to allow accumulation of up to five personal days as “personal leave.” The district contends this would allow teachers to change personal days into a vacation. Gifford recommends keeping the status quo.
Tuition reimbursement: The district wants to eliminate reimbursement for courses taken beyond a “master’s equivalency,” and to keep the current reimbursement maximum of $130 per credit. The district also wants teachers who receive reimbursements to remain employed by the district for three years afterward, or to repay some or all of the reimbursement, depending on when they leave. The union wants reimbursement increased to $155 per credit, and to loosen restrictions on eligible online courses.
Gifford proposes increasing reimbursement to $140 per credit and requiring repayment of all the money if the teacher leaves the district within a year and half the amount if the teacher leaves in the second year.
Early retirement: The union proposes a number of changes to the existing system that eliminate some age requirements, alter deadlines and change retiree health-care coverage. The district opposes the changes, and notes that the old contract expressly said the entire early retirement offer expired with that contract. Gifford proposes keeping the system in place with fewer and more modest changes than the union suggests.
Salary: The union proposes raises that would increase total base payroll by nearly $1.4 million over five years, with average raises of 4.32 percent the first year, and 4.09 percent, 3.58 percent, 3.43 percent and 3.25 percent the following years. The union pointed out that the district has increased the surplus steadily to more than $5.6 million. The district proposed a total payroll increase of a bit more than $1 million, with the annual raises averaging 3.02 percent, 2.87 percent, 2.79 percent, 2.68 percent and 2.55 percent.
Gifford proposes annual raises starting at an average of 3.51 percent the first year and 3.4 percent, 3.11 percent, 3.03 percent and 3 percent the following years.
Health insurance: The union proposes a variety of changes in coverage – excluding sharing in premium costs – which it claims will result in savings between 2.3 percent and 4.3 percent depending on the plans chosen by teachers. The district proposes teachers pay 3 percent of their premium in 2008-09 and 4 percent the following year. The district notes total insurance costs have risen between 111 percent and 200 percent since the 1999-2000 school year, depending on which coverage plan you look at.
Gifford proposes adopting the union’s changes.
Read the report:
http://www.dli.state.pa.us/landi/lib/landi/plrb/fact_finding/greater_nanticoke_area_sd__psea.pdf

12/06/2007
Nanticoke council passes first reading of budget
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

City council passed the 2008 budget 4-1 during a first reading Wednesday night. Mayor John Bushko was the only “no” vote.
The $4.18 million balanced budget doesn’t call for tax or fee increases. Earned income tax remains at 2 percent, with 0.5 percent for Greater Nanticoke Area school district. The real estate tax remains at 44.5 mills — 30 for general city purposes, 14 for paying back debt, and 0.5 for the Mill Memorial Library. A mill is $1 on every $1,000 of assessed value.
The only changes to the budget were in police overtime, which was reduced from $60,000 to $30,000, and firefighters’ overtime, which was reduced from $40,000 to $20,000. City officials also added $5,000 for Nanticoke’s recreation committee when Councilman Joe Dougherty pointed out there was nothing in the budget for the newly recreated entity.
The second and final reading of the budget will be Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.

In other business, council:
Appointed Joseph R. Aliciene & Co. to conduct audits for 2007, 2008, and 2009. Dougherty and Bushko voted “no” because they believed J.P. Mazzoni, who performed the audit in previous years, should have a chance to re-apply.
Requests for proposals were sent to eight accounting firms, but Mazzoni said he never got his, city fiscal manager Holly Quinn said.
Debated and ultimately tabled a resolution for the state Department of Agriculture to perform health inspections. Dougherty said the city would lose $4,000 a year by giving up the inspections. Councilman Brent Makarczyk asked for a performance review of the current health inspector, Margaret Brezny.
Nanticoke Redevelopment Authority member Chester Beggs told council there are 11 properties incorrectly listed as belonging to the authority that taxes haven’t been paid on for 30 years. They were sold to private owners who built homes on them, Beggs said. Tax collector Al Wytoshek said he would follow up on it with the Luzerne County tax assessor’s office.

12/6/2007
Nanticoke mayor disagrees with budget
slong@timesleader.com

Council approved the first reading of a $4.18 million budget for 2008 Wednesday night. No tax hike is planned.
Mayor John Bushko was the sole vote against the budget. He said there were several line items with which he didn’t agree.
“There is nothing in there for capital improvements,” Bushko said. “The 100,000 for lawyers is way over budget. I would say you could cut that in half.”
Nanticoke Recreation Board member Jim Samselski asked if money would be allocated for the recreation board because nothing appeared on the currently proposed budget.
Councilman Joe Dougherty said the issue had been brought to council’s attention and money would be allocated to the board.
Council must adopt a budget by Dec. 31 but can revise it as late as February because a new council member, Jon Metta, will be sworn into office next month.
Council also hired a new certified accountant to handle the city’s audits.
Joe Mazzoni, a licensed certified public accountant from Dallas, served as the city’s auditor for five years, Bushko said.
City workers sent out eight proposals seeking bids for an auditor, but only Joseph R. Aliciene & Co. of Pittston submitted a formal bid, city administrator Ken Johnson said.
Another company called inquiring about the offer but never submitted anything in writing, Johnson said, noting Aliciene came in to meet with him and discuss what work the city needed completed. The post office did not return any of the proposals, Johnson said.
Mazzoni said he never received a proposal packet in the mail. Bushko asked if the decision to hire an accountant could be tabled to allow Mazzoni more time to submit his paperwork.
But in a 3 to 2 vote, with Bushko and Dougherty voting against, Aliciene’s company was hired to a three-year contract with the city to serve as the city’s accountant.
“I just wanted him to have the opportunity to bid on it,” Bushko said. “I believe it was sent. Things happen in the mail you don’t know.”
Aliciene will be responsible for conducting the city’s 2007, 2008 and 2009 audit.
Aliciene’s firm handles the audits for the City of Pittston and Nanticoke School Board, Johnson said.
Council approved a resolution allowing a liquor license to be transferred to Robert Hagenbaugh, who plans to open a restaurant at 396 E. Washington St.

12/5/2007
Nanticoke school strike could occur Dec. 17
Teachers union is waiting to see if school board changes its mind on a fact-finder’s report on contract.
By mguydish@timesleader.com

A teachers strike in Greater Nanticoke Area School District could come as early as Dec. 17, union lead negotiator Jane Brubaker said.
The union members voted unanimously last school year to authorize a strike, meaning the negotiating team can call for a strike whenever it feels it is necessary. The only legal requirement is to give the district 48 hours notice.
Union President Deborah Zaborney warned the district Monday night that a strike was likely after the school board voted 6-1 with two abstentions to reject a fact-finder report that the union had accepted. The Times Leader had incorrectly reported the vote was 8-1, but new board members Tony Prushinski and Frank Vandermark Jr. abstained.
“They’ve been negotiating for three years, and I know the report just came out,” Prushinski said Tuesday, adding that he had seen the report but did not get a chance to scrutinize it closely before he was sworn in as a board member Monday. “I didn’t think it would be fair to anyone to make a judgment without knowing more.”
The union contract expired August 2005.
“There are a number of tentative agreements that were reached on some issues,” Brubaker said, but a few major sticking points stalled the process, prompting the union to request that both sides submit to state fact-finding. “It can be requested by either party and it’s usually used when you’ve reached a point where you’ve got to change the dynamics to move the parties forward.”
A fact-finding hearing was held Nov. 13. Before that, the last negotiating session had been Sept. 26, Brubaker said. When the report was issued, both sides had 10 days to accept or reject it.
The union approved it, contending it was fair and that the district could afford it without a tax increase. Now that the board has rejected it, both sides have 10 days to reconsider their votes. If nothing changes, the process is over.
Brubaker said the union is waiting the 10 days to see if the board reconsiders its vote before deciding whether to call a strike. That would mean a strike won’t happen until Dec. 17 at the earliest.
The fact-finding report becomes public record after either side rejects it and officially notifies the state Labor Relations Board, which oversees the process. Department of Labor spokesman Christopher Manlove said the notification came late Tuesday afternoon and that the report would probably be available this morning.

12/5/2007
Kitchen fire damages Nanticoke home; no one is injured
Times Leader staff

A pot of boiling oil left unattended resulted in a structure fire Tuesday night.
The fire at 269 Mountain View Drive sparked at about 9 p.m. No one was injured by the fire and the family was not displaced.
“It was a kitchen fire. It started on the stove: unintentional,” Nanticoke Fire Chief Mike Bohan said.
Bohan said the kitchen is “pretty well destroyed” but that the rest of the first floor of the home received mostly smoke and water damage.

12/4/2007
Nanticoke steps closer to strike
By Elizabeth Skrapits - CVoice

Greater Nanticoke Area teachers could be the next in the county to go on strike, depending on what happens in the next 10 days.
The school board voted 6-1 with two abstentions on Monday to reject the fact-finder’s report, which is drawn up by a neutral third party based on contract proposals from both sides. Greater Nanticoke Area Education Association members voted last Thursday to accept the report.
Now that the board has turned the report down, it has 10 days to reconsider and take a re-vote.
“It’s time now to meet in the middle and find a compromise that’s fair to all,” GNAEA President Barbara Zaborney told the board after the vote. “If you don’t reconsider… the next step in an impasse resolution is a strike. The choice is yours.”
New board members Tony Prushinski and Frank Vandermark, freshly sworn in by Magisterial District Judge Donald Whittaker, abstained from voting on the report.
Jeff Kozlofski, just re-appointed as board president, was the sole yes vote. His vote drew cheers and applause from the more than 200 people, mostly teachers and supporters, who partly filled the high school auditorium.
The six board members who voted against the report did so because they had to accept it as a whole, board vice president Ken James said.
They apparently didn’t agree with parts of it. The fact-finder’s report will most likely be made public after the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board is notified of the board’s decision, said Robert Raineri, a member of the school board’s negotiating committee. Until then, he couldn’t discuss the report’s specifics.
Zaborney said the fact finder’s recommendation was for a five-year contract. However, Greater Nanticoke Area teachers have been without a contract since August 2005.
“We will be back at the bargaining table two years from now. Just two years,” Zaborney said.
Health insurance and salaries are main sticking points, as they are in the two other Luzerne County districts without a contract, Lake-Lehman and Northwest Area. Both of those teachers’ associations held brief strikes in June, and Lake-Lehman teachers returned to the classroom Nov. 9 after a second, 19-day strike.
Greater Nanticoke Area teachers were willing to make changes and compromises for the fact-finder’s report, said Jane Brubaker, the teachers’ Pennsylvania State Education Association representative. The recommendations in the report would not require a tax increase to fund, she said.
The teachers’ union will wait to see what the board does during the next 10 days and make plans accordingly, Brubaker said.
After the meeting, Kozlofski urged the two sides’ negotiating teams to sit down together just to talk. Raineri said the board’s negotiating team has requested a meeting with the teachers, which will most likely take place this week.
Kozlofski is optimistic.
“In my opinion, they’re getting together, they’re going to negotiate, they’re going to settle this,” he said.

12/4/2007
For Acker, a smooth road from GNA to St. Joe’s
Bill Arsenault - Times Leader

It didn’t take long for Sarah Acker to get adjusted to women’s major college basketball.
The 6-foot-3 center from Nanticoke Area has played in all six games and started five for St. Joseph, which is 4-2 after a 65-58 victory against Manhattan on Sunday.
Acker played 22 minutes and finished with six points, five rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
On the season, Acker is averaging 26.7 minutes. She’s second on the team in scoring (10.7 ppg.) and leads in rebounds (9.0) and blocked shots (nine).
“Sarah has been a great addition to our team,” coach Cindy Griffin said. “Her size and ability to rebound have meant the most to us thus far. She is becoming a steady offensive threat around the basket, as well.”
Griffin doesn’t see Acker slowing down as the season progresses.
“We expect Sarah to continue to improve her off hand and her understanding of post defense and compete with some of the best post players in the country,” Griffin said.

12/4/2007
Teacher strike threatened in Nanticoke
Ralph Nardone - Times Leader

Greater Nanticoke Area teachers threatened a strike at Monday night’s school board meeting.
What prompted the threat was the board’s refusal to accept a state-appointed fact-finder’s report presented to them, which outlined recommendations to alleviate a contract impasse.
The voted 8 to 1 against acceptance of the report.
The specific details of the recommendations were not available.
The union did not set a strike date, but Barbara Zaborney, president of the Greater Nanticoke Area Educator’s Association, told the board the fact-finder’s recommendations are “more than reasonable” and said a strike will happen at an “opportune time.” She would not elaborate.
Nanticoke teachers have been working without a contract since August 2005, according to Jane Brubaker of the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
Zaborney said the recommendation did not require any tax increases for the district. She added the education association membership voted “overwhelmingly” to accept the recommendations even though they included significant “compromises.”
“We are an important part of the school district,” Zaborney said. “We are professional educators offering the best possible education for the residents and taxpayers.”
She added the teachers helped the district in the past when money was tight, agreeing to wage freezes and other concessions. However, she noted the board promised them their “sacrifices would be remembered.”
“That time is now,” she said.
Board president Jeff Kozlofski, who cast the only vote to accept the fact-finder’s report, said he thinks it is a “fair deal for both the district and the teachers.”
“Nobody wins if there is a strike,” Kozlofski said. The biggest losers are the district students, he added. However, without accepting the union’s offer, essentially the whole negotiation process is “back to square one.”
Kenny James, vice president of the school board, stressed the board wants “a fair contract for the teachers.”
He pointed out the district is one of the poorest in Luzerne County and whatever agreement is made has to “work for the community as a whole.”

12/3/2007
Difficult financial decisions in Nanticoke’s future
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

Nanticoke’s budget and financial recovery plan don’t call for laying off employees.
But in the future, as costs go up while the financially distressed city’s income stays the same, council and Mayor John Bushko might have to make difficult personnel decisions.
At present, layoffs are a “remote” possibility, Councilman James Litchkofski said.
Councilman Bernie Norieka says expenses are already reduced to bare bones, so personnel is the only major place left to cut costs.
Out of every dollar the city takes in, 75 cents goes for salary and benefits — particularly in the police and fire departments — a sizeable chunk of the budget, he said. Council should look at personnel reduction, whether it means freezing hires, through attrition, or layoffs, Norieka said.
Police and fire personnel can’t be laid off under their contracts, which are up for negotiation next year. Clerical staff and public works department employees could be cut. Their contracts expire at the end of this year and currently are under negotiation.
The public works department, at seven men, is already understaffed, Litchkofski said. As soon as their contract is settled, the city can start subcontracting out services such as pothole patching to save money and free the men up for other work, he said.
Nanticoke’s $4.18 million 2008 budget is balanced, and does not contain any fee increases or new tax hikes. Residents already pay an earned income tax of 2 percent, twice the normal rate, because of the city’s distressed status.
The higher income tax will help the city for a while, but Pennsylvania Economy League representatives predict that within five years, expenses will overtake revenues. As with household budgets, costs for necessities, including utilities and health insurance, go up, but the amount of money coming in stays about the same.
During a budget discussion last week with representatives from the PEL, Nanticoke’s financial recovery coordinators, Norieka asked if cutting two of the city’s six clerical employees would help. There are two in the tax office, one collecting refuse fees, two in the economic development office, and one in the police department. PEL Executive Director Gerald Cross said laying off two employees only saves $50,000.
Bushko strongly opposes the idea. Clerical salaries range from $19,000 to around $28,000, making them the lowest-paid employees in the city, he said.
Besides, the city really only pays for three of the six, he said. Greater Nanticoke Area pays one tax office worker’s salary; one community development salary is paid for through federal Office of Community Development funds, and refuse fees cover their collector’s salary, Bushko said.
Although it costs the city $17,000 for one Blue Cross/Blue Shield family plan, three of the six clerical workers take buyouts. They get $2,000 from the city, Bushko said.
He doesn’t think raising the buyout to $4,000 while making the other employees pay $50 to $100 per paycheck toward their health insurance premiums will save the city money.
Incoming Councilman Jon Metta said he couldn’t tell what the future will hold. Good contracts should help prevent layoffs, as well as monitoring overtime and following the recovery plan, he said.

12/3/2007
Nanticoke worker hours at issue
Councilman wants clerical staff to join other city employees in working a regular eight-hour day.
slong@timesleader.com

Some city officials want to ensure all employees work a standard eight-hour day.
The city’s financial recovery plan adopted by council last December requires all full-time city employees work at least 35 hours per week.
Most of the city’s employees do work eight hours a day with a paid lunch, but not all.
Nanticoke’s six clerical employees are considered full-time employees. They work 30 hours a week and receive city-paid health insurance benefits, accrued sick leave, two weeks of paid vacation time and 22 paid holidays.
The six women work 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a paid hour for lunch in the city’s refuse department, tax collection office, community development and police department.
Councilman Bernie Norieka wants them to work a standard work day, just as he said they would in a private sector job. That’s an additional hour a day per employee, he said.
“If they don’t like it they can go look in the private sector and they will see there are no other benefits,” Norieka said.
He said he knows he is not popular right now with employees, but he said he is representing the taxpayers. “Somebody has got to take a stance and we have to get the city back on its feet.”
He said the city needs to find ways to cut costs, but it appears that can only be done by looking at personnel costs.
“Seventy-five cents out of every dollar goes to pay employees’ salaries and benefits,” said Norieka, who was appointed to council in April after former councilman Bill O’Malley resigned.
He wants to improve the efficiency of the office staff by increasing the hours and realigning staff to help the code enforcement department.
With the office staff working longer hours, more paperwork and city functions will run smoother by maybe realigning some of the office staff into other departments, including code enforcement, Norieka said.
Incoming councilman Jon Metta, who will replace Norieka on council, said he believes the city needs to follow the recovery plan because it can’t afford not to.
“It is very tight. We can’t go out of the plan,” he said.
Although he won’t be sworn in until January, Metta has attended nearly every public City Council meeting and workshop to keep abreast of the city’s issues. As a councilman, he will oversee the city’s finance department.
Supporters of the clerical staff, including Mayor John Bushko and city treasurer and tax collector Al Wytoshek, said it’s not the workers’ fault that they work fewer hours than other city employees. Bushko has served on council for 14 years.
Wytoshek, a former council member, said former administrations offered the employees perks when the city couldn’t always offer a pay raise during contract talks. “It’s not the girls’ fault they got all the benefits because we were looking to pacify them ’cause we knew we didn’t have the money to pay them extra.”
City administrator Ken Johnson said the salaries range from about $19,000 to $30,000, plus benefits.
Johnson is actively negotiating with the clerical staff’s union officials, but no determination has been reached regarding additional salary compensation or the exact working hours.
Morale concerns
Worried about staff morale, Johnson said he respects the workers because he knows they work hard and didn’t ask for these additional perks.
The perks, he said, were granted through contracts with previous administrations.
Jim Murphy, an agent for Teamsters Local 401, which represent the city’s street department and clerical personnel, declined to comment Sunday because of ongoing negotiations.
Bushko and Wytoshek believe the office staff should be compensated appropriately for the additional hours they are being asked to work.
“I don’t think anybody should have to work an extra hour without extra pay,” Bushko said.
The recovery plan does not provide for a pay raise in the first year of a new contract. It does provide an $800 pay raise during the second and third years of a contract. The contract ended last year, but it was extended for a year with no pay increase. So they have worked one year already without a pay increase.
If the city does agree to increase the clerical workers’ salaries, it must also be approved by the city’s financial advisors, the Pennsylvania Economy League and the state.
“Any proposed settlement would be reviewed to determine its effect on the city and its budget,” said Jerry Cross, PEL executive director.
Johnson said he just wants to ensure the municipal building is open the necessary hours to be more convenient for Nanticoke citizens needing to pay their bills.
“The function of city government is to provide services,” Johnson said.
“The more convenient we can make those services, the better it is for the citizens of Nanticoke.”
What’s next
What: Nanticoke City Council meeting
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Municipal building, 15 E. Ridge St.

11/29/2007
Nanticoke Area Notes
By Pam Urbanski
K.M. Smith Elementary School institutes Pre-K Counts program

Pennsylvania has made great strides in serving young children through early childhood initiatives such as the Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts program.
Established by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the program gives children an opportunity to get a head start in the classroom. Seventy-five million dollars was made available to Pennsylvania school districts for the program.
Diane Klish, director of the Family Center in Nanticoke, wrote the grant for the Nanticoke program and was fortunate to receive it. Nanticoke Area is just one of six schools in the county that was awarded the funding. In Pennsylvania, the push is on to initiate early learning standards.
“All schools are really trying to standardize their kindergarten programs so that when a child enters kindergarten, no matter where in Pennsylvania, the student is expected to know certain skills and learn certain academics,” Klish said.
“We’re really excited about this new program. It gives our youngest children an opportunity to get ready for the kindergarten classroom,” she said.
Klish said that, at first, the emphasis is placed on socialization. “We teach our children many things including how to get in line, how to take turns, how to treat their classmates and teachers with respect and empathy,” she said.
Continuing, she said, “In addition to socialization, children learn important skills such as holding a pencil and scissors correctly, cutting, colors, how to spell their first and last names and more.”
The Pre-K Counts program is housed in the K.M. Smith Elementary Center. There is one teacher and an aide. The program runs five days a week and children go to class two and a half days a week. Parents can chose from two different times: morning sessions are from 8:20 to 11:05 a.m. and afternoon sessions are from 11:40 a.m. to 2:25 p.m. The program is free.
For more information or to enroll your child in the program, call the school at 735-3740.

Tax rebate period ends
Nanticoke City Tax Collector A.J. Wytoshek announced the rebate period for 2007 school taxes and school per capita taxes has ended.
Taxes are payable Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. at the tax office in the Nanticoke City Municipal Building. Mail-in payments will not be accepted by postmark. Nanticoke City property and city per capita taxes are now in penalty value, which ends Dec. 15.
Anyone needing assistance or an appointment should call 735-2800.

Santa is coming to town
Santa Claus will make a stop in Nanticoke on Sunday, Dec. 9. The Santa parade will start at 1 p.m. at the Nanticoke Area High School and finish at Patriot Park where the Christmas festivities will be held.
There will be horse and buggy rides and sounds of the season will be provided by the Greater Nanticoke Area choir. There also will be fun activities, surprises and, of course, a gift from Santa.
The event is sponsored by Nanticoke Civic Pride.

Basketball bus trip set
The Nanticoke Recreation Board is sponsoring a basketball trip to see former Nanticoke Area High School standout Sarah Acker play on the college level. Sarah plays for St. Joseph’s University. The game is Sunday, Feb. 24. St. Joseph’s will play George Washington University. The buses will leave from the Nanticoke Area High School parking lot at a time to be announced. Cost is $20 per person or $25 per person if you would like a T-shirt. Reservations must be made by calling Mike at 735-7421 or Jim at 735-8108. Reservations are due by Feb. 15.

11/28/2007
Nanticoke officials launch cost-cutting effort
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

City officials, aided by financial advisers, went hunting for ways to trim next year’s expenses.
They discovered their cost-cutting options are limited, and even laying off city employees won’t help.
Council, Mayor John Bushko, city administration and representatives from the Pennsylvania Economy League, Nanticoke’s financial recovery coordinator, met Tuesday to go over the $4.18 million 2008 budget. The city is having a hard time meeting expenses in 2007, which cuts into next year’s budget.
The city raised its share of earned income tax from 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent this year, but money didn’t come in as anticipated, and neither did real estate tax. PEL expected county-wide reassessment to take place by 2008 instead of being postponed, research associate Harry Miller said.
In addition, higher health insurance costs — a 15 percent rate increase instead of 10 percent — and spending more than planned on a city administrator and for legal fees helped bust the budget.
The city’s main expenses are for police and fire departments, but their contracts have minimum staffing levels that must be met, Miller said. Councilman Bernie Norieka suggested laying off the refuse money collector and an employee from the tax office.
That would only save about $50,000, PEL Executive Director Gerald Cross said. Instead, Miller suggested clerical employees’ duties be shifted to the public works department and code enforcement office.
The officials decided to slash overtime in half. Police overtime will be reduced from $60,000 to $30,000 and firefighters’ from $40,000 to $20,000.
Since changes to the budget are minimal, the city won’t have to re-advertise it. Council plans its second vote on the budget during the regular meeting Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.

11/23/2007
Nanticoke takes action to smooth Kanjorski Center transition
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

The Nanticoke General Municipal Authority board voted to take over the Kanjorski Center from the Nanticoke Redevelopment Authority, in hopes it will pave the way for an easier sale to Luzerne County Community College
LCCC wants to buy the Kanjorski Center to turn it into a health sciences center. Transferring the property from the redevelopment authority to the municipal authority would streamline the sale process because the college will only have to deal with one entity, the municipal authority’s solicitor Joseph Lach said.
When the Kanjorski Center was about to be built, a September 1993 agreement among the city and both authorities gave each of the three parties a specific role in the creation of the office building.
The city’s role was to obtain the grants and other funding to construct the center, then sign the money over to the municipal authority.
The municipal authority had charge of developing, constructing, leasing and managing the office building, which was to have Travelers’ Insurance Co. as its first tenant.
The redevelopment authority was tasked with acquiring parcels of land on East Main Street and putting them together to form the development area for the center. The redevelopment authority then held the deed to the property.
The 1993 agreement gives the municipal authority the option to purchase the property from the redevelopment authority at any time for $10, with written notice of its intention. The redevelopment authority then has 30 days to transfer the deed to the municipal authority.
Redevelopment authority board member Steve Buchinski, who sat in on the municipal authority meeting, said his board’s solicitor, Susan Maza, would have to interpret the agreement. However, Lach said he believed the agreement was “very straightforward.”
“In my personal opinion, not only is it legal, but it make sense,” Lach said.
Besides streamlining the sale, in a city with a population of under 10,000 and limited resources, it doesn’t make sense to have responsibilities for the downtown projects spread out in different directions, Lach said.
“It seems unreasonably cumbersome to have all these different groups trying to get something done,” he said.
Municipal authority board member Dennis Butler wants city officials and the municipal and redevelopment authority boards to continue to work together on their common goal: the sale of the Kanjorski Center and related downtown revitalization projects.

11/21/2007
Rates dip for health trust schools
Costs will drop next year and probably for next 2 or 3 years.
guydish@timesleader.com

While there’s no dollar figures attached yet, members of the Northeast Pennsylvania School District Health Trust will see their health insurance rates drop not only this coming year, but also probably for the next two or three years.
Add to that what has become an annual habit of giving members one-month without paying premiums – equivalent to another 8.5 percent decrease – and the Trust is finally providing the kind of taxpayer savings promised when it was formed in 1999, Executive Director Andrew Marko said.
Next year’s rates will be, on average, 4.1 percent less than this year, Marko said, the biggest rate reduction in the Trust’s history and the third in a row. While it won’t be certain until sometime next year, members will also likely get one month free of premiums. Much of the savings are possible because of a hefty surplus of about $12 million and a constant search for ways to save more, Marko said.
It’s a sharp change from the early, turbulent years of the Trust marked by double-digit increases and multimillion-dollar deficits.
“The goal of the trust has always been to bring stability to districts without interfering with benefits, and we have reached that goal,” Marko said. “We expect to maintain this level for two or three years at least.”
The Trust was formed by 10 school districts, two vocational-technical schools and the Luzerne Intermediate Unit, but Dallas and Pittston Area school districts withdrew this summer, claiming they could save more money on their own. Five months later, the Trust announced the changes in insurance premiums each member will pay this year, and all but one saw decreases ranging from 1.5 percent to 7.8 percent.
While the Trust initially planned to spread costs evenly among districts and set a single rate for all, that plan was scuttled early, and each gets a slightly different premium, so each has a slightly different change in the premium annually.
Marko said Tunkhannock Area will see a 0.5 percent increase while the rest will see the following decreases: Hanover Area, 6.4 percent; Lake-Lehman, 3.8 percent; LIU, 5.3 percent; Greater Nanticoke Area, 4.4 percent; Northwest Area, 7.8 percent; West Side Vo-Tech, 2.9 percent; Wilkes-Barre Area, 1.5 percent; Wilkes-Barre Area Vo-Tech, 2.5 percent; Wyoming Area 7.6 percent; and Wyoming Valley West, 7.6 percent.
Marko said that, barring some major change, members can also expect one month without a premium, which amounts to several hundred thousand dollars for most.
“We expect to maintain stability, with zero increases or even decreases for the next three or four years,” Marko said.

11/16/2007
GNA board OKs plan for school improvement
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

Greater Nanticoke Area School Board approved a plan Thursday for Nanticoke High School’s second year of state-mandated school improvement.
To comply with the federal No Child Left Behind law, students take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests to determine their reading and math abilities. Districts must make adequate yearly progress goals in test participation and school attendance.
Nanticoke High School’s problem is with reading proficiency in economically disadvantaged and special education students, according to the Department of Education.
As part of the plan, teachers will use the state’s “Adopt an Anchor” program, Superintendent Anthony Perrone said. It enables teachers to align their curriculum with PSSA standards to help prepare students for the tests.
Principals will do classroom walk-ins each day to see how the teachers are doing, Perrone said. The principals will submit weekly reports.
“I’m happy we have a plan and are moving forward,” board member Pattie Bieski said.
She thanked federal funds coordinator Michael Pawlik for his work.
Greater Nanticoke Area’s Educational Center and Elementary Center received warnings from the state for test performance. The problems concern reading and math for special education students at the educational center and reading for special education students at the elementary center.
In other business, board member Robert Raineri said teachers contract negotiations are in the fact-finding process, where a neutral third party looks at both sides’ proposals and makes recommendations.
It should end Nov. 26, after which the teachers union and school board will have 10 days to vote on the fact-finder’s report, Raineri said. He expects the board to vote during the Dec. 3 meeting.
Greater Nanticoke Area teachers have been without a contract since June 2005. Health insurance and salary increases are main sticking points
Hank Marks of the Greater Nanticoke Area Taxpayers Association said most full-time teachers “don’t know how well they have it.”
“They’re well-paid, have top-shelf benefits, and only work 180 days a year,” Marks said.
He also noted, “Our education is not very good as far as test scores are concerned,” which provoked a few indignant noises from the audience.

11/16/2007
GNA random drug testing policy gets initial approval
slong@timesleader.com

The Greater Nanticoke Area School Board approved the first reading of a random drug-testing policy during its meeting on Thursday.
At the request of district officials, state troopers used drug-trained sniffing dogs to inspect the high school on Oct. 13 while the building was in lock-down. “There were no drugs of any kind found,” Superintendent Tony Perrone said.
Specifics of how the entire drug-testing policy will work and how often the testing will be conducted are still being ironed out, but Perrone said the district will use a private medical lab to conduct the testing.
“We are trying to make this a drug-free school zone,” he said. “It will just be athletes now, but eventually it will be extracurricular also.”
Parents must sign a waiver to allow for the testing or their child won’t be allowed to participate on the district’s sports teams.
Students on prescription medication would not be subject to penalties that would be enforced on students who test positive for illegal substances, Perrone said.
Officials also approved the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment improvement plan.
The plan, which is required to be submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, describes the district’s testing standards and what activities it will use to help students improve their standardized test scores.
School board member Patricia Bieski said the district has a long way to go to improve the scores, but at least it is now moving in the right direction.
“I am glad we are not just talking anymore and are moving forward to improve the PSSA scores,” she said.
Further details of the plan were not available.

11/15/2007
Nanticoke Redevelopment Authority stops short of approving contract with architectural firm
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

The redevelopment authority board postponed voting to approve a contract with architectural and planning firm Facility Design & Development Ltd. for downtown improvements, saying they want more answers.
The contract is for streetscaping Main and North Market streets, including new sidewalks, streetlights, parking, planters and benches. It would follow recommendations in the strategic plan the Scranton-based architectural and planning firm prepared for Nanticoke and unveiled in April 2006.
The streetscaping is part of an overall plan for downtown redevelopment, the cornerstone of which is the sale of the redevelopment authorityowned Kanjorski Center on East Main Street to Luzerne County Community College for a health sciences center.
LCCC also wants a culinary arts center constructed on the site of the city-owned senior center at Market and Main
streets. Since city and state officials expect the projects to bring millions of dollars in private investment downtown, they want to give its main streets a new look.
Municipal authority Chairman Ron Kamowski signed off on the contract with Facility Design & Development at the authority's Oct. 22 meeting.
The redevelopment authority met two days later, but members wanted to wait until city council voiced its support and authority solicitor Susan Maza checked over the contract. Council gave the OK on Nov. 7.
The redevelopment authority wanted a few items in the contract changed or clarified. Redevelopment authority Chairman Chester Beggs called for a joint meeting with the municipal authority.
"I don't want to sign anything and have more money problems," he said.
The other members agreed. They would like a representative of Facility Design & Development to be present at the upcoming meeting.
The authority's main question was how much the project will cost. The firm's fees
would be 10 percent of the budget, based on available funds, the contract states. Maza said the wording was vague. She said the board should be given a specific budget amount with a breakdown showing how it could be used.
The $15,000 Facility Design & Development would receive on signing the contract is already covered.
State Rep. John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke, did not attend the meeting, but said earlier the municipal authority had received a $100,000 grant for professional services related to the downtown projects. The grant can cover architectural fees, legal fees, site preparation, the appraisals, and anything else needed to get things ready, he said.
But funding for the project itself is still being worked out.
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, DNanticoke, took away $5.6 million federal transportation funding from the redevelopment authority The money was for streetscaping and a parking garage for the Kanjorski Center.

11/15/2007
Nanticoke officials gear up for contract talks
By eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

To stay on budget and follow the financial recovery plan, city officials will have to gear up for tough contract negotiations next year, including taking away some employee perks.
"Act 47 is not a bed of roses, and it's not a cure-all," Gerald Cross, executive director of Nanticoke's financial recovery coordinator Pennsylvania Economy League, told council. "The responsibility still rests with the city fathers."
Under state Act 47, the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act, distressed municipalities like Nanticoke have to pass a balanced budget for three straight years. The $4,183,677 budget for 2008 that council and Mayor John Bushko passed in preliminary form on Wednesday is balanced.
"This is the first reading and numbers could change," Bushko said.
Revenue is mainly from earned income tax, increased last year from 1 percent to 2 percent, with 0.5 percent going to the Greater Nanticoke Area School District.
The biggest hike in expenditures is $110,000 for legal fees, up from $20,657 in the 2007 budget. Bushko thought the amount was excessive.
But Joseph Boyle, PEL policy specialist, said the city chose the amount to plan for labor lawyers' fees, with four employee contracts expiring. The clerical staff and public works contracts, which expire Dec. 31, are in negotiations, and talks will start next year for police and fire contracts, up Dec. 31, 2008.
Personnel expenses make up 75 percent to 80 percent of the budget, PEL research associate Harry Miller said.
Labor costs got the city in financial trouble in the first place, Miller said. Nanticoke's financial recovery plan calls for extensive changes to new contracts that will save the city money.
The subject of the six members of the clerical staff was particularly thorny.
Clerical salaries are in the "low $20,000s," fiscal manager Holly Quinn said.
But clerical staff get benefits fully paid by the city - health insurance is approximately $17,000 a year per person - 22 paid days off, two weeks of vacation, several sick days a year and pensions, Councilman Bernie Norieka said.
In addition, clerical staff work six-hour days. The recovery plan calls for them to work an eight-hour day, with one hour paid lunchtime.
It isn't fair for them to have their hours increased, with only an $800 a year raise allowed them by the recovery plan, tax collector Albert Wytoshek believes.
They should have been working seven hours a day all along, Norieka said. Bushko, agreeing with Wytoshek that $800 wasn't much, said the staff signed on for six hours.
Cross said most people in Nanticoke earn less than $50,000 a year. He pointed out that residents wouldn't like paying higher income taxes so city employees could have higher salaries and benefits.
"Poll the citizens of Nanticoke next time you're out, and see how they feel about the working conditions (in city hall)," Cross said.
"That'll fly like a lead balloon," Wytoshek admitted.
Bushko requested another meeting to go over the budget line by line. He hopes to cut expenditures, he said.
"Unless you're willing to talk personnel reduction or benefit reduction, there's not much we can do," Miller said.

11/15/2007
Nanticoke rolls out '09 budget
slong@timesleader.com
The financially distressed city currently in Act 47 status got its first glimpse at the 2008 budget during a specially called meeting Wednesday night.
The $4.18 million budget is a 23.3 percent increase over the 2007 general fund budget of $3.38 million.
The 2008 budget does not include any higher taxes, sewer or refuse fees. But there is also no plan to fund capital improvements, which frustrated Mayor John Bushko, who has been actively seeking to get the roads and sewer lines fixed.
Higher health care costs, repayment of state loans and labor benefits under current union contracts account for the largest increases in the budget.
Medical insurance costs rose 14.7 percent for 2008, City Administrator Kenneth Johnson said. The city pays 100 percent of the costs for full-timers and their families.
A series of no-interest loans scheduled for payback to the state next year were expenses, which could not be put off, also increased the 2008 budget.
A $200,000 loan and a $70,000 payment on the 10-year, no-interest loan from 2006 must be paid next year, Johnson said.
The police department's budget increases $161,694 and the fire department budget increases $281,183 over the next year due to "significant wage increases under the current bargaining agreements," Johnson said.
Bushko proposed going line by line to review each department.
"Unless you are willing to talk labor, benefits and the number of employees reduction you won't reduce the budget tremendously, and some you can't touch because you are under budget contracts," said Henry Miller, a senior research associate for the Pennsylvania Economy League.
Taxes were raised earlier this year when the city adopted a commuter tax of 1.33 percent and raised the earned income tax to 2 percent. Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Mark Ciavarella on Tuesday approved the city's request to maintain the new tax rate approved in the spring.
The city expected to receive $1.7 million this year by increasing the income tax in late spring, but as of Sept. 30 only $580,673 had come in.
Johnson and PEL officials believe most of those 2007 taxes, an estimated $736,667, will come in next year by April 15.
Johnson and PEL think an additional $1.02 million will be generated from the higher taxes in 2008.
The city council is hoping to pass the budget by Dec. 19.

11/13/2007
Need for appraisal questioned
slong@timesleader.com

An appraisal of the exterior of the Kanjorski Center will be conducted within the next two weeks in an effort to keep the downtown renovation project on track. The building, owned by the Nanticoke Municipal Authority, is part of a plan to move some Luzerne County Community College programs into the heart of the city.
The Kanjorski Center appraisal is expected to cost $3,000, according to Ron Kamowski, authority chairman.
Other city-owned structures, including the Senior Citizen Center, which also may be purchased by LCCC, will be appraised at a later date, state Rep. John Yudichak, D-Nanticoke said .
Kamowski would not release the names of the other sites because the authority hasn’t decided which properties should be appraised, he said.
A $100,000 state community revitalization grant will pay for appraisals and other behind-the-scenes work, including legal fees, and will be used to acquire properties needed to proceed with the three-pronged, $21 million project, Yudichak said.
LCCC wants to move its health sciences program into the Kanjorski Center and its culinary arts program into the Senior Citizens Center by 2009.
A private restaurant developer, yet to be named, has expressed interest in working with the culinary arts center by opening a restaurant in downtown Nanticoke.
The federal Economic Development Administration requires an appraisal on the Kanjorski Center’s outer shell to determine the building’s value before it can be sold to the college.
“We need an appraisal to determine the monies owed to the EDA,” Kamowski said.
Results from the appraisal are expected to be presented to the authority in about two weeks.
Nanticoke City Administrator Kenneth Johnson doesn’t see the need for an appraisal since the property is being transferred from the municipal authority to the community college.
“It’s not the cost that bothers me. What’s the appraisal for? Why do they want an appraisal?” Johnson said. “We are going to be transferring this to LCCC, another public entity.”
When the Kanjorski Center was constructed 13 years ago, the federal EDA paid $1.8 million toward the total cost.
The money was provided with the stipulation that at least a portion of the original funds be repaid to the EDA if the building is sold within 20 years, Kamowski said.
An interior appraisal will not be conducted because the college is expected to spend $6 million on renovations that would make it suitable to house the health sciences program with dental labs, faculty offices and classrooms.
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, said he’s working with the EDA office to reduce the building’s cost so LCCC can purchase it at a reasonable cost.
“We are trying to get a waiver or reduce the amount,” Kanjorski said, noting he would assist LCCC to help it qualify to buy the building.
He said he is planning to meet with the economic development officials after the appraisal is complete.
Earlier this year, Kanjorski rerouted a $5.6 million federal allocation from the Nanticoke project to the Hotel Sterling in Wilkes-Barre and another project in Lackawanna County. He said he feared the 11th Congressional District would lose the funding because Nanticoke officials were taking too long to complete the deal.
City council members Brent Makarczyk and James Litchofski insist the $5.6 million still belongs to Nanticoke.
City, county and school officials have made numerous requests to Kanjorski to redirect the money to Nanticoke and the municipal authority.
Makarczyk and Litchofski said they believe the appraisal is a smokescreen being used by Kanjorski to keep the federal money away from his hometown.
“It’s even been brought up that it could be a delay tactic until the bill gets passed and the money be removed from our possession,” Makarczyk said.
Kanjorski said he is working to find additional funds for the project.
“It’s not the cost that bothers me. What’s the appraisal for? Why do they want an appraisal?”
Kenneth Johnson
Nanticoke City Administrator

11/13/2007
Schools gang up on staph
Institutions stress hygiene to combat drug-resistant infections.
mvough@timesleader.com

After two school districts reported cases of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, local schools are taking measures to prevent students, faculty and staff from becoming infected. Cases have been confirmed in the Wyoming Area and Wilkes-Barre Area school districts.
Most are trying to prevent infection through education. Some are sending home informational letters and good-hygiene tips to parents and educating their employees on the spread of the bacteria. One local university recently installed automatic hand sanitizers in the dining hall.
MRSA is a bacterial infection that is resistant to certain antibiotics, but it can be treated. The elderly are most prone to the infection because of weak immune systems, but anyone can become infected. The infection is generally spread through direct contact. If someone has an open wound, the bacterium is able to penetrate the skin, causing the infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When the students from the Wilkes-Barre Area School District contracted the infection, Andrew Kuhl, director of secondary curriculum, said officials informed parents.
Superintendent Jeffrey Namey sent parents an eight-page letter that explained what happened and included information about the disease, its symptoms and instructions on how to stay protected and how to keep areas clean, Kuhl said.|
Employees were briefed on the disease.
“Meetings were held for all faculty and they were given the same type of information the parents received for their use for their particular building,” Kuhl said.
Younger students were taught how to properly wash their hands, Kuhl said.
“The nurses had the kids sing their ABCs while washing their hands so they knew they properly washed their hands long enough.”
At Kistler Elementary School, where one case was reported, district officials sanitized the building.
“We are doing that in all of our buildings,” Kuhl said. “Our staff has been taking precautions right along. I feel we were well-prepared.”
There have been no reports of MRSA in the Greater Nanticoke Area School District but officials are taking precautions. “We have not had any issues, which is good,” said Sandy Najaka, registered nurse at the high school. “We are using disinfectants and wiping down tables, desks, gym equipment and things like that.”
Nanticoke administration sent letters to parents, telling them there have been no MRSA cases in the district, Najaka said.
“We told parents to make sure they teach their children basic hygiene such as covering their mouth when they cough, washing their hands, not taking drinks or eating other people’s food. Common-sense things,” she said.
The school has a hygiene education program that teaches the younger children about general hygiene and discusses communicable diseases with the older students.
Nanticoke Webdesign note: Go to www.gnasd.com to read letter.
Misericordia University had a quick response, too, according to Charlotte Slocum, director of student health services.
She said the school placed automatic hand sanitizers in the dining hall and added more in the health center and weight rooms.
Misericordia is discouraging students from sharing razors or soaps and suggests students wash their bed sheets and laundry frequently. If they become sick, they are encouraged to visit the health center immediately, Slocum said.
Wilkes University is using MRSA as an educational tool.
“It is important to note that we’ve taken this national news of MRSA and staph infections as an educational opportunity by informing our students and staff about the signs and symptoms and how to prevent it,” said Christine Seitzinger, associate director of marketing communications.
A four-page document of information regarding MRSA was sent to all students on campus, she said.
Little People Day Care School Inc., Wilkes-Barre, has always followed a strict cleaning regimen, said director Christine Lupcho.
“We’ve been doing what we’ve been doing, and so far, so good,” she said. “Our toys are always cleaned, usually a couple times a week. We have cleaning people come in every night. We follow our state regulations; we have to keep everything really clean to begin with, which we’ve been doing.”
Signs and Symptoms
How to Stay Healthy
• Red bumps such as pimples or boils
• Deep, painful abscesses or pus-filled lesions
• If a wound is not healing even with the use of treatment, contact a physician immediately.
• If not treated, these wounds can cause infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs, which can become life threatening.
•Take daily showers
• Continually wash hands throughout the day
• Keep open wounds properly covered until healed
• Do not share food or drinks with other people
• Sanitize toys that may be shared among more than one child
• Sanitize commonly touched areas around the home
• Athletes should shower immediately after practice or a game
Information collected from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

11/13/2007
Same but different
Former Ship’s Inn now Map’s
By Ron Bartizekrbartizek@timesleader.com

The nautical theme remains, but everything else about the former Ship’s Inn restaurant has been given an upgrade at the new Map’s that opened in mid-October.
“Nanticoke is a town of traditions,” said owner Pam Hardesty, in explaining the continued seafaring decorations that include maps on the wall. But don’t think that’s the origin of the name – “Map’s” also is the possessive of “Pam” backwards.
“We flipped it around,” Hardesty, 45, said, “and it worked right out.”
The once-popular spot has been spruced up inside and out, she said. Hardesty bought the building that had been closed for two years, then got to work.
“We’ve completely remodeled everything,” with new booths, new carpeting, all new lighting, fresh paint and a new canvas awning,” she said. With 50 seats, “it’s cozy.”
The restaurant has a full bar and liquor license. That will come in handy for manager Joy Kelly, who Hardesty said is known for her signature perfect Manhattan. Kelly, a family friend, has catered private parties in the region for many years.
Co-owner Tosha Hardesty, Pam’s daughter, will be in the kitchen. From the Nanticoke High School class of 2000, she is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and was most recently a sous-chef at Skytop Lodge in the Poconos.
“She wanted to bring her skills back to the community,” Pam Hardesty said.
The menu will be “fine dining, Amer