Carbon cancels Susquehanna contracts

A controversial $12.6 million building project in Carbon County is being delayed as a result of a lawsuit that was filed against Jim Thorpe for approving the building plans.

On Thursday, the Carbon County Commissioners voted 2-0 to cancel the award of all prime contracts for the Susquehanna Street project. Commissioner William O’Gurek was absent.

County solicitor Dan Miscavige said the action was because of the status of the appeal by St. Mark’s and St. John’s Episcopal Church against Jim Thorpe for its conditional approval of the project.

“Under the law, once the bids are awarded, the county has a certain amount of time to execute the contracts with the prime contractors,” Miscavige said. “In this case, as we know there is a land development appeal filed and as is proper all of our common pleas judges have recused themselves. Once the judges recuse themselves, the matter is referred to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts for them to appoint an outside judge to come in and hear the case. Unfortunately, as of the present time, the AOPC has not yet approved or appointed an outside judge to dispose of that appeal.”

Miscavige said the action taken was to be fair to the contractors and their employees because with the project hung up in court, the contractors would not be able to move forward on their parts and would cost employees salaries because of not being able to work on the project.

This now gives the contractors time to go out and secure projects since it is the beginning of the construction season.

“The county believes it is in the best interest to the county and the prime contractors and their employees to cancel the prime contracts at this time until such time that a judge is assigned and we can make a determination and a new timetable for the land development appeal being disposed of,” he said.

Once a judge is assigned and a timetable for the appeal created, the county will have a better idea as to when it can readvertise the contracts for the project.

One project along Susquehanna Street that will move forward, Miscavige said, is the demolition of the former archives/maintenance building since it is not part of the land development plan.

That project will also need to be rebid since it was part of one of the prime contracts and will be readvertised as soon as the architect gets the specifications together for the demolition project.

The commissioners awarded these contracts, including Slaw Precast of Lehighton, $3,920,000 for precast work; Bracy Contracting Inc. of Allentown, $4,803,680 for general construction; D&M Construction Unlimited Inc. of Clarks Summit, $1,165,462.73 for rock removal; Schindler Elevator Corp. of Allentown, $79,500 for elevator construction; Davis-Ulmer Sprinkler Company of Beach Lake, $217,900 for fire protection; JBM Mechanical Inc. of Nazareth, $396,000 for plumbing construction; Tri-County Mechanical Inc. of East Texas, $706,000 for mechanical construction; and Orlando Diefenderfer of Allentown, $1,338,500 for electrical construction, in February.

Jim Thorpe also granted conditional plan approval for the project, which is to include a two-story parking garage and third-floor office space, at its February meeting.

The lawsuit against the borough was filed by the church in March after church members and surrounding businesses voiced their disapproval of the project for several months because it requires the removal of 40 feet of bedrock from the base of the mountain, which is part of the church’s foundation.