Cooperation an example to follow
President Obama and the Congress of the United States and Gov. Wolf and the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, take note: The Carbon County Commissioners can show you that working together for the betterment of the community can bring positive results.
Case in point: Republicans Wayne Nothstein and Tom J. Gerhard and Democrat William O'Gurek are solidly behind the agreement to move forward on a countywide emergency services training facility next to the current Emergency Management Agency/911 Communications Center on a 12-acre site on the Broad Mountain in Nesquehoning. We commend the three for viewing this as a project worthy of their bipartisan support rather than a football to be tossed around to score political points.
This project has been talked about for more than six years, but the pieces of this gigantic puzzle are just now starting to fit into place; well, at least they were until Democratic Gov. Wolf and the heavily Republican-controlled General Assembly hit a brick wall in trying to come up with a 2015-16 budget. Virtually all major projects have been put on hold until this more than five-month deadlock is broken.
As a Lehighton Fire Company volunteer, Commissioners' Chairman Nothstein has been one of the project's most ardent supporters, because he intimately knows of its importance in properly training emergency personnel. Front-line responders have lined up behind this proposal, and residents should, too, because the outstanding training that emergency workers and firefighting volunteers will receive at this facility could save their lives some day. Some county residents are concerned with the cost of such an outstanding facility. We are, too, but we are heartened by the assurances of the commissioners that the features of the facility will depend on the level of funding that ultimately shows up.
The estimated cost of the facility is close to $10 million, $2.2 million of it for the fire tower portion of the project. The commissioners have applied for grants totaling $950,000 from the Local Share Account (the pot of money made possible by the location of the Mount Airy casino in a contiguous county - Monroe); $350,345 through the Commonwealth Financing Authority, and about $1.5 million from a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant. So far, none of these grants has been secured, but that's not all bad, because once the grants are received, the clock starts ticking, and the project must be completed by a certain deadline. The commissioners are still in the process of lining up all of the permits and approvals from county and local agencies which need to sign off on the project.
The $2.8 million that these grants represent is less than a third of the expected cost of the project as currently envisioned. The commissioners have said, however, that, if necessary, the project will be scaled back to match the funding through grants.
The county entered into a $5,000-a-month contract (plus expenses) with Delta Development Group of Mechanicsburg, because, according to O'Gurek, the company has a track record in securing public funding through legislation, competitive grants and economic development programs. The original eight-month contract with Delta has been extended for an additional four months until March 2016.
By a recent 3-0 vote, the Nesquehoning Planning Commission was the latest to give its blessing to the proposal, which would provide emergency services with a 46-foot high training and drill tower and other practice sites, along with classrooms, a 90-100 seat lecture hall, storage for equipment and new offices for the Emergency Management Agency. This will give police, county departments and Emergency Medical Services classroom and training options that are mostly completed now in other counties.
Forcing county personnel and volunteers to go elsewhere for this crucial training is inefficient since it involves time, travel costs and, on occasion, the movement of equipment to the out-of-county training site. When personnel are at these training sessions, which are frequently mandated to keep skill levels up-to-date, it means there are fewer responders and equipment available, especially if there is a major emergency. Volunteer firefighters had a burn building and training site on a small piece of land in Lehighton that was shared with youth organizations, but that building was condemned and demolished three years ago after engineers found it to be unsafe and in a significantly deteriorated condition.
The project starts with widening the access road to the Emergency Management Agency building from 13 to 21 feet and extending it to the fire-training site and new classroom building. The commissioners have applied for a $350,000 grant to pay for the road, which, if it comes through, will require the county to put up $150,000 in matching money.
We are so fortunate to have dedicated volunteer firefighters and other first responders in our communities. They will be the direct beneficiaries of this new facility once it is operational, but so will we. Some ask why these individuals are willing to put their lives on the line, especially since most are not paid. Of course, each has his or her own justification for involvement, but, generally, it comes down to these key reasons: Gain experience and learn new skills: be part of a team; benefit their respective communities, and, through it all, they expect to gain a sense of fulfillment and achievement.
BRUCE FRASSINELLI | TNEDITOR@TNONLINE.COM
(Staff writer Amy Miller contributed to this column.)
