Carbon County commissioners

Carbon County Commissioners, on Thursday, acted on or discussed the following items. Commissioner Rocky Ahner was absent.

• Commissioner Chris Lukasevich said that the county saw a 30% increase in the amount of hotel excise tax collected on overnight accommodations within the county in 2019. The total number collected for the year was $934,885.64, which includes changes from Act 109 that now requires third-party platforms, such as Airbnb and HomeAway to collect and remit the 3% tax. Ninety-six percent of the hotel tax collections goes to Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau, which then gives 20% of the first $500,000 and 10% after that back to Carbon County. The remaining 4% from the gross collections is retained in Carbon County for administration fees.

• Approved a service agreement with Johnson Controls of Allentown to conduct inspections and maintenance of the fire alarm system at the correctional facility from March 2020 through February 2023 at a cost of $7,382 per year.

• Approved a proposal from Johnson Controls for the repair of the fire pump in the pump house at the correctional facility. The cost is $3,692 and is under a state contract.

• Approved a revised proposal with Johnson Controls for additional security features for a camera monitor, door release buttons, door strike controls for access and computer at a revised total cost of $29,991.32. The original contract was approved on Jan. 23.

• Approved an application for financial assistance request to the Department of State’s Grants for Election Modernization and Security program. The request is to reimburse funds no more than 60 percent of the cost to purchase the county’s certified voting systems that employ voter-verifiable paper records. The county paid $470,963.28 for the new system.

• Tabled an action to approve the electronic execution of Monroe County Local Share Account funds to the Family Promise Homeless Facility Acquisition in the amount of $30,000. Lukasevich said he would not support the action at this time because no agreement between the county and Family Promise is in place that would verify that space would be available at the new homeless shelter location in Nesquehoning for single women.

• Adopted the new lifeguard incentive policy at Mauch Chunk Lake Park. To try to attract and retain lifeguards at the lake, the county is starting a reimbursement program. Under the policy, the county will continue to reimburse the cost of background checks and clearances for those who are hired, but will now reimburse a lifeguard 50 percent of the training and certification costs during the first year of employment as long as they have worked a minimum of 200 hours for the season. The remaining 50 percent of the training and certification costs will also be reimbursed by the county after the lifeguard signs on for a second season and works a minimum of 200 hours.

• Approved the seventh amendment with Delta Development Group Inc. of Mechanicsburg for professional services relative to the fire and emergency services training facility project. The original contract was dated Feb. 19, 2015. The amendment extends the agreement to March 3, 2021, at a cost of $2,100 a month.

• Approve an amendment to a $125,000 LSA grant for the Emergency Operations and Fire Training Facility Project Phase 1B. The amendment extends the grant to June 30, 2021.