County Council - Regular Meeting

Council members, please take your seats. We're going to get started with the public hearing in a moment. Okay, everybody. It's 5:59 p.m. I'd like to call the public hearing to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Okay. Roll call, please. Miss Lawrence, Mr. Hos here, Miss Krishnowski here, Mr. Loscavage, Miss McDermott here, Mr. Perry, Mr. Sabatino here, Miss Smith here, Miss Stevenson here, Mr. Thornton here, Mr. Wovich present. Mr. Lombardo here. All present. Thank you. allow public comment on the proposed ordinance uh to revise the existing GIS and mapping department fee schedule. Is there any? Anybody in the audience? Anybody on the Zoom? Motion to adjurnn. Second.

All in favor?

I opposed. Meetings adjourned. We'll restart in one minute. Thank you. Okay, everybody. It's 6:01 p.m. I'd like to call the voting session to order. We've already had the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. Roll call, please. Miss Lawrence,

Mr. Hos, here. Miss Krishnowski here. Mr. Lavage here. Miss McDermott here. Mr. Perry. Mr. Sabatino here. Miss Smith here. Miss Stevenson here. Mr. Tharton here. Mr. Wovich here. Mr. Lombardo here. All present. Thank you. Attorney, could you please announce our executive session? Prior to the meeting today, we had an executive discussion discussion on our litigation matters.

All right. Thank you. We do have one uh ceremonial proclamation and it is for Italian-American Heritage Month. Whereas October is recognized as Italian-American Heritage Month by United States Congress, the president, and numerous other governments throughout the country. And whereas Italian-American Heritage Month is set to coincide with Columbus Day, a holiday meant to celebrate Christopher Columbus' voyage to America, which remains a source of pride for many Italian-Americans. and Italian-Americans. Whereas Italian-Americans have made numerous lasting impacts on the world. From the invention of the telephone by Antonio Mui and discoveries in nuclear physics by Enrico Fermy to the shaping American entertainment with individuals like Frank Sinatra, Dean Morton, Dean Martin, Francis Ford Copala and Martin Scorsesei to major sports figures in Vince Lombardi, Joe Deaggio, Joe Pno and more locally Charlie Trippy. And whereas Luzzer County has an active and significant population of Italian-American citizens who take pride in their heritage and give back to the community in many ways. And whereas UNICO is an Italian-American service organization that is active in Luzar County. And whereas the acronym UNICO stands for unity, neighborliness, integrity, charity, and opportunity. And whereas the Wolsbury chapter of UNICO has engaged in numerous philanthropic activities throughout the area including the UNIO football game. Miss Unico pageant, volunteering at the Saint Vincent Depal Soup Kitchen, annual scholarship dinner, and numerous other events. And whereas UNICO's motto of service above self has guided the organization in its desire to serve the community and bring continued pride to those of Italian descent in America. Now therefore, we County Council do hereby proclaim October as Italian-American Heritage Month in recognition of the hard work and dedication of those whose Italian roots have made a lasting positive impact in Luzar County and all throughout the United States.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Your list forgot Lady Gaga. Oh, that's right. She's also Listen, I can name a thousand a thousand celebrities that are Italian. Um anyway, all right. Any deletions from the voting session agenda? Motion to adopt the agenda. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Agenda is adopted. Now public comment on voting session agenda items only. Is there anybody for public comment? Voting session agenda items. Anybody in the audience? All right, we have one hand up on the Zoom. Mark.

Mr. Chairman, this is Mark Rabbo speaking. Can you hear me? Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, in regards to the introduction, well, first of all, the capital uh plan, I can't help uh Mr. Chair and members of council, manager Crocomo and uh ladies and gentlemen, uh to say about the capital plan. For years of me being on the redevelopment authority and other boards, uh I have said uh numerous times that the capital capital budget could be replenished uh through many ways, especially through uh the economic development. Mr. chair as you and I have had many debates and discussions about this with regards to luris. Uh I still believe that the tiff and other economic development tools unlike the gentleman you brought in for the work session that had that 1 hour and 20 minute filibuster on luras. uh especially with the example of the arena project that was the most successful tiff uh project in Pennsylvania's history and it's and DC has spotlighted it it itself the state has uh as one of the most successful tiffs that was utilized so I think instead of giving away the store as the county uh has been notoriously known to do during the commissioner days and in some cases during home rule. Uh I think that that should be explored uh for the capital plan. Uh and now for the budget uh three things. One is the court staff for the 11th judge. Um Mr. Chair, that could have been done two years ago when the uh state authorized the 11th judge. And I can't help but uh ask for uh the manager

and for members of council a few years ago uh when you got elected uh that they should have gone to Senator Lisa Baker's office because she's the chair of the judiciary committee uh responsible for the funding of the of all the judges in the state. So why wasn't there any dialogue with her office about that? Secondly, with respect to uh the budget for for the prison, where was uh you know the discussion with wellpath with regards to the additional expense when the contract was up? Uh where was Mr. Wilbur? Where was uh M Miss Rosselle? Where was the manager on that? And thirdly, and lastly, with regards to the bridge roads and Mr. Mr. Chair, there's $9 million uh from the budget uh for the uh for the Nanakoke Bridge and from the 14.2 million now 13.2 million for the uh for the um UDAG money. So those monies are available. So I think Mr. Chair this 2% 1.9% is unnecessary and can Mr. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Anybody else for public comment? Okay. Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the minutes of the September 23rd, 2025 voting session? Chair, Mr. Chair. Uh, Mr. Thornton. Yeah. I'd like to make one amendment to the minutes. Okay.

Uh, when I reviewed them, I noticed an omission. Um, if you could locate your voting session minutes, page five of six under the uh the long long disc minutes discussion on item number nine. That was the motion to adopt the ordinance uh the RCO responsible contractor's ordinance. And beyond the two amendments, we went on then to uh after public comment on page five or six uh if you notice near the bottom of the page right above item number 10 uh on a roll call vote to adopt there were uh indeed seven yeses and four nos. But the four nos there's only three people listed. Mr. Hos voted against it, Mr. Scavenage and myself voted against the uh responsible contract orders and I believe Mr. Perry voted against it also. And I'd like to make an amendment to the minutes that we add Mr. Perry's name to the uh for no votes.

Okay. There's a motion for that amendment. Is there a second? All in favor? I opposed. All right. Minutes are amended to reflect Mr. Perry voting no on the responsible contracting ordinance. All right. There's a motion in a second to adopt the minutes. Uh is everybody okay with keeping their motion as is amended? Yes. All right. Motion is second. All in favor? I opposed. Minutes are adopted. We'll now move on to the agenda. Number one, motion to adopt the ordinance to revise the existing GIS and mapping department fee schedule. Motion in a second. Roll call. Mr. Hod. Yes. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Mr. Luscavage? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Savatino? Yes.

Miss Smith? Yes. Yes. Miss Stevenson. Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Will? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Yes. Unanimous. Number two. Motion to adopt the resolution approving the recommendations uh recommendations of Ziggman and Company regarding security bond limits to protect Luzern County against risks of loss for calendar year 2026. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Roll call. Miss Krishnowski. Yes. Mr. Lavage? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wovich, yes. Mr. Hos, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous.

Number three, motion to adopt the resolution approving a modification to an American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded project for the Wolsbury Wyoming Valley Airport. So moved. Second. There's a motion in a second. Any question? Roll call. Mr. Lisgavage? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wovich, yes. Mr. Hos, yes. Mr. Kishnowski, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Number four, a motion to adopt the resolution authorizing the county manager to apply for a statewide local share account grant. So moved. Motion and a second. Roll call. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry?

Yes. Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Miss Smith? Yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wovich, yes. Mr. Hos, yes. Mr. Kishnowski, yes. Mr. Lascavage, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Number five, motion to adopt the resolution approving the allocation of opioid settlement funds to XT Enterprise Recover. You motion. Second. There's a motion and a sec. Uh I, Miss Smith. Okay. Yeah, there's a motion and a second. Roll call. Mr. Mr. Perry, yes. Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wovic, yes. Mr. Hos, yes.

Miss Kushnowski, yes. Mr. Luscavage, yes. Miss McDermott, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Number six, motion to adopt the resolution authorizing the county manager to execute a lease renewal agreement between Luzern County and Dom Enterprises. So move second. Motion and a second. Uh, Mr. 17, I think. Roll call. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss Smith? Yes. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Wovit? Yes. Mr. Hos? No. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Mr. Luscavage? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Yes. 10 to one. It passes.

Number seven, introduction of ordinance amending the capital plan budget for Luzar County. M. Manager Cromo. I will be introducing that ordinance to amend the capital plan. Okay. Any questions on that? All right. Number eight, introduction of the ordinance amending the 2025 fiscal year budget for Luzernne County. I will be introducing the ordinance amending the 2025 fiscal year budget uh in Lzern County for uh uh and we will have public hearings on these going forward. Thank you. And number nine, introduction of ordinance adopting the 2026 fiscal year budget for Lzern County.

And I'm introducing uh the ordinance uh adopting the 2026 fiscal year budget uh for Luzern County. And uh I look forward for robust uh discussion with council.

All right. Thank you very much. Anything by any council members? Okay. Hearing none, we'll have public comment on non-aggenda items. Anybody in the audience? Miss Williams. Denise Williams, Kingston Township. My public comment concerns the reasons provided to the public for entering executive sessions, specifically when the stated reason is simply litigation. Providing only that word offers no meaningful context. I respectfully suggest that council consider offering a bit more specificity, such as litigation involving an inmate at the prison, litigation involving the redevelopment authority, or litigation in White versus Lutheran County. When I served as chair of the board of elections, I always provided more detail than simply litigation, identifying the specific matter involved. I believe it is a good practice and an important part of maintaining openness, accountability, and transparency with the public that council serves. Thank you,

Williams. Anybody else for public comment in the audience? All right. Uh, we have one on the Zoom. Mark, Mr. Rabo,

Mr. Chair, can you hear me? Yes.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh first of all, I had feedback in my initial public comment uh with regards to $9 million uh that is in the uh interest payment for the from the uh LSA infrastructure fund money that could be utilized for road and bridge projects uh if the manager and council so chooses to do so. So that's uh that was what I was getting at in my initial public comment. Uh also with respect to the 11th judge uh the the funding for the 11th judge and their staff as I said to you Mr. Chairman and all the members of council and I would hope that maybe you can confer with uh Councilman Hos who had two roundt discussions when he was the committee chair of the legislative committee on council. uh when the state delegation uh the county with respect to uh increasing the reimbursements uh the of the monies that is sent from the courthouse uh the judiciary to Harrisburg uh that 20% uh up to 20% shall be refunded or reimbured excuse me reimbursed uh to the counties to pay for the uh judiciary staff uh salaries and their uh expenditures. So, uh I think that um council people uh council members Mcderman and Liskavich spoke to Lisa Baker as well as the county manager with respect to that uh a couple years back. I think now, Mr. Chairman, is the time that um we need that you guys need to have a dialogue with Senator Lisa's office. uh as the state budget is now

still held up. I I I I know that uh for the school uh district funding. So I think maybe is the time the opportune time for council to have that dialogue once again with Senator Lisa Baker's office to increase the reimbursement as it's been $500,000 to Lucern County for at least the past 20 years uh plus. So, I think uh another half million dollar increase uh make it at $1 million uh won't won't break the state budget uh to send back to Luzern County making it an even $1 million. So, I think that is a a reasonable uh request that can be made and I think that needs to be done uh for next year's budget. Um thank you, Mr. Chairman, and uh have a good evening.

Thank you, Mr. Rabo. Any other public comment? Is there a motion to adjurnn? Second. All in favor? I opposed. Voting sessions adjourned. Uh I is everybody okay with just going right into the work session? All right. Well, like to call the work session to order. It's 6:18 p.m. We already have the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. Roll call. Miss Lawrence. Mr. Hos here. Miss Krishnowski here. Mr. Luscavage here. Miss McDermott here. Mr. Perry here. Mr. Sabatino here. Miss Smith here. Miss Stevenson here. Mr. Thornton here. Mr. Willovich here. Mr. Lombardo here. All present.

Thank you. Are there any additions or deletions from the work session agenda? Oh, go ahead. Can I just move um agenda item number two to the end because the gentleman that's supposed to be on is in another meeting. Sure. So number two will be moved to number five. Yes. Okay, everybody okay with that? All right. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Some moved. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Agenda is adopted. First up, we have division reports.

As always, uh uh if council uh has any questions on the division report, uh you can text uh call and email me. Uh and Leanne, uh my email is now fixed for you. So uh uh I'm very proud of the staff uh and uh these uh division reports are an example of the level of transparency uh that uh Luzern County uh is dedicated to. Uh when Mary Rossel gives her uh fiscal report uh that's the book end uh that shows uh the level of transparency. I challenge anybody to show any other county or municipality or school district in the area that is more transparent than Lzern County. Uh so uh I'm very proud of my staff and uh I know that you uh are as well. Thank you.

Thank you, manager Crocom. I know one thing that I don't think made into the division report was the uh Department of Emergency Services trunk or treat that happened just a few days ago. Well, that'll be next next month. Oh, fantastic. We're a month behind. All right. Well, if I could jump in. 911 EMA's trunk or treat was fabulous. It'll be a great time. I I wasn't expecting so many people, but it was it was a great time. So many kids, right? Great.

And I want everybody to know that this is the staff that puts this together. staff and their family because they see not only a need but uh the drive uh for people to understand that Lutheran County is one unified county and we are here to be with each other. So I applaud uh the staff of EMA and 911 uh and all the people who who participated [Applause] And that's all I want to say, Mr. Chair, if I may. I just want to applaud Manor Croman and the staff, too, because you're always forthcoming with information whenever I need something and I give you reach out. You know, I appreciate that. I know with this budget impass as we continue to go, I I know Armold, you're you're you're already putting the stop gap wherever you can, but I would encourage encourage you and and our staff, our leadership, let's keep the spending down to an absolute minimum because who knows how much longer this is going to go on. I talked to CCAP and Mr. Rabbo was talking about the courts. A lot of other counties are are bringing that issue back up again. We we did address the underfunding of the courts u many years ago and really if you look at that, that's where a lot of our shortfall is coming from. It's it's again it's I hate I'm beating a dead horse here. You can't get blood from Iraq and I can't tell those people how to do their jobs, but it trickles down and they're in action in Harrisburg makes us be the bagman and we have to take other measures that they're unwilling to do.

Right. if uh there is a push to go to Harrisburg to get more funding for the courts uh from the state which uh I I will uh gladly participate in but it's something that various counties across the Commonwealth have to participate in. If we do it alone uh we're not going to prevail. So, uh I know there's a CCAP conference coming up and and maybe we can uh address that,

but we have to build courtrooms and chambers for uh the judge uh that is being elected and uh there's a possibility that we're getting another judge in 2027. And so, we have to prepare for that as well. And here's what we're dealing with. And I I don't want to uh necessarily throw any blame to federal or state officials, but when funding is uh cut, it trickles down to the individuals that we served. I said this the other day. County governments in Pennsylvania are the the the highest level of government that is fun fully functional today in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and we have mandated services and what I will do provide you with mandated services particularly with uh children and youth and families. We have mandated services that we have to perform whether we have federal or state funding. And what happens when we can't pay providers and providers don't get paid? Individuals don't get their services. People who need mental health services, people who need the drug and alcohol services, they don't get their services. And there's a probability that they will turn to crime. And what happens when there's more crime? We need more public defenders. We need more district attorneys. Our court docket, which is really daunting. We have a full court docket on the civil and criminal and on the dependency and

the custody side. then the docket increases even more and on the criminal side when the criminal docket increases so does our prison population. So there are genuine consequences of the fact that we are not getting monies that we need to perform mandated services. But I will tell you this lo county will perform those mandated services. We will do that. But the there are consequences for the inaction of our state and federal representatives. That's just the reality that we're living in. And I think we have to take note that it probably will happen again for next year's budget. So uh this was I've told this uh to number of people this was a very difficult budget. Uh it was very difficult for us to when we're trying to streamline government and streamline services but increase services at the same time. Costs are going up and then we have this this federal and state uh impass. And every day that goes by it affects us here locally. But we're going to we're going to do it. We're going to make sure that the services get done for the people who deserve it.

Thank you, manager Crocomo. And just to add to something that was said earlier um about having discussions with our state legislators about in particular our reimbursement for the courts. That is something I know personally that I have spoken to several of them about that. I've spoken I know that uh Mr. Thornton has spoken to them about it and other council members have have been reaching out. So um these conversations are happening. It's not like it's not like we're ignoring them. They are definitely happening and uh we're just as frustrated as everybody else when uh we get answers that you know essentially are not satisfactory for us that involve us getting the money that we deserve. So we that is happening. Okay. All right. We'll move on. Number two, uh new number two discussion regarding resolution authorizing the county manager to execute a contract with GEO re-entry services LLC for substance use disorder counseling services. Uh this is a service this is a service that is uh provided by GEO. We have a representative here if there's any questions for number three and number four. But uh they uh provide uh very important services to our inmate population uh when it comes to uh substance uh use and counseling services. If you have any questions, there is a representative here.

Any questions, council members, on number three or number four? All right. Well, we um essentially covered number four as well. Yes.

Um so, okay. Next up, we have discussion regarding resolution approving an agreement with the Newport Township uh with Newport Township for the collection of Newport Township taxes by Luzar County Treasurer's Office. Good evening, council. Um, we're asking for a resolution to be passed just as we did last year authorizing our treasurer's department to collect the taxes for Newport Township. We get paid $2.60 a bill for every bill that we collect. It um it it amounts to about $6,000 in revenue for the treasurer's office. There are over 2,000 parcels that are taxable in Newport Township. If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer them. I mean, we've done this before, right, M? If I could,

we've done it for several. Yes, we port township before we helped them out. Full comments in our treasures to office. So, I don't see any issue with that. Thank you. Any other questions for Miss Rosselle? All right. Thank you very much. Finally, we'll move on to the discussion regarding the AP by county partnership. Um, Miss McDerman, if you want to just kind of give us a little bit of a background on this.

Yes. And we have the attorney who's working on this for the airport. Unfortunately, he's on another meeting and he was planning on being on closer to 7:00. We had a speed round on our voting session and work session. So, I'm not sure if he's I know that never happens, but uh our assistant director for the airport is here, Bed Tech Techchman, and I would like her to at least start it off. I I don't know if you're going to be able to answer all of the questions. That's why we want but at least she can get us to start with uh explaining it. Okay. We can set something up though with the attorney. Yeah. If if he doesn't get on and I'm waiting but I think it's on.

Good evening. Thank you for this invitation. My name is BJ Teachman. I am the exe assistant executive director at the Wilsbury Scranton International Airport and I'm here as a representative for the airport to talk about a very important agreement. For those of you who don't know me, I learned to fly in 1981. Please do not do the math. Um, I worked my way through graduate school flying um at night and did my internship at Duke. For the past eight years, I've served on the Aviation Advisory Council to the governor and the Aviation Council of Pennsylvania, respectively, formerly as vice president, and I currently serve as the president of RPA State Aviation Council. I share this small portion of my aviation background with you because while I understand that this is a work session this evening, I urge the Lern County Council to adopt this agreement on October 28th for the following reasons. The FAA has informed us that the grant funds are at risk if this is not done very soon. Currently, our airport has approximately $21.3 million in anticipated grant funds over the next several years for very important projects. Our goal is to maintain the current function of the airport board as it works today and finalizing this agreement is largely cleanup to meet the FAA requirements. Uh at this time I was planning to introduce Nicholas Clabers. Nicholas is with Kaplan and Kirch, which is an aviation attorney law firm. That's what

they specialize in. And I was uh going to pass the baton to him to answer legal questions that would be out of my realm. Thank you.

Okay. Attorney actually has a question for you if you don't mind. Um, it was my understanding from when we had a meeting with him uh with Nicholas last time that at one point it was suggested that between the two counties they had three options. One, form uh an authority, two, form a partnership. or three, one of the two counties just takes over the airport themselves. And when was that ever brought to council? Because I I understand the decision that's been made is that we're going to file the partnership agreement, but there was one of three options according to Nicholas, and that's the option that appears to be what we're going toward. To the best of my knowledge, I would not be able to answer that given that I started in February of 2025.

She she wasn't there. You She was not there when that decision was made. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And it was not brought uh to council and I don't believe it was brought uh to the commissioners in Lacawana County either, but I don't want to speak I absolutely do not want to speak for Lacawana County. Mr. Thornton, you had a question.

Uh yeah, thank you, Mr. chairman. Um it's it says here in the um agreement document that the original agreement was forged back in 1968 between the two counties. All right. And if I heard what you were saying correctly a minute ago, u the reason we're forming a new agreement is because the FAA has newer regulations than that which was in place in 1968. That is correct. It is my understanding that in order to receive federal aviation grant funds, it has to be under the name of one sponsor to receive and sign for grant funds as opposed to two different by two different counties.

So one sponsor would be a partnership is considered one sponsor. Affirmative.

Okay. And you know I was reading through the clauses in this which on the surface appear to be very sound clauses. Um I want to draw attention to section 2.01 article 2 under creation in the name the counties agree to create pursuant to Pennsylvania law general partnership with each county as an equal general partner in the partnership and no other partners. The name of the partnership shall be AP by county partnership. Uh it it I guess I should have jumped down to 2.03 purposes. That's what the the clause that has me a little bit concerned. The purpose of the partnership is to manage, operate, and maintain the airport with each county being equally responsible for the cost of the partnership. uh that came to light last year in in a big manner uh where the state cut funding for security at the airport. I think everybody here remembers that. And suddenly the airport said, "Ah, we have no money to pay our police officers and our here." And um and our district attorney was very concerned, rightfully so. And uh we needed a solution. So his solution was to come to council here, Lucar County Council, and ask for all of the money to pay all of the security at the airport for an ongoing basis. And our questions were, well, Lacana County is an equal partner. What is their contribution? And the answer was zero. because Lacawana County said, "We're we're sorry. We just don't have the money." I thought that was very unreasonable.

I'm not trying to put you on the spot because I know you're not answer county, nor should you. But I'm just stating a fact that I have concerns with the agreement the way it was written because I thought in the past we had an equal partnership with Lacuana County, but apparently we didn't. And and I wish council maybe could have got involved with this earlier than just bringing it tonight and asking us to vote on it two weeks from now. That's just my concerns. I'm stating out loud. Thank you. Uh Attorney Scheme, I've been involved. Microphone, please.

I've been involved with this for a little while with negotiating the contract, and it has changed a number of times. At first, there was a much longer one that was more complicated, but covered a lot. Uh, and as they've gotten whittleled down, this is a basic partnership agreement. So, not that there's a lot wrong with it, but we have um certain things that that are going to happen under this agreement that haven't been determined how it's going to happen yet. But once we sign this, you all vote on it and sign it because I don't vote. we um will will then have to if we don't come to an agreement, we'll be then be an arbitration in litigation with Lacawana County over that. One of my suggestions was that we iron everything out in advance that we could see that we know it could possibly be a problem before we sign the agreement or make that part of the agreement so we know what it's going to be rather than just quickly signing it and then having to litigate it or have a problem in the future. Oh. Uh, Mr. Sabatino and then Mr. Luscavage. Uh,

I have a concern with, uh, the land. Um, should this the hypothetically the airport dissolve? Who like would Lacawana own 50% of the land according to this agreement?

Yes. uh that would make once they want this agreement would have the partnership own all of the land technically now before it's a partnership the two entities have been part of gathering the the property since the 1950s so um they've put in less than $300,000 most of the property was obtained back then property was less expensive so it would be put into two deeds one the Lacawana County property would be one deed and the loan county property would be another deed But if for some reason the airport uh ceased to exist then however they the property was sold it would be split. Now, according to um Nicholas, it doesn't work that easily because he said that there's been grants and if there's some grants that are covering it, then it would be encumbered by the federal government, though their name is not on any deed. And if it government, I don't know who would take care of the the property. If it ended up for some reason going defunct, then is is one or the other counties going to keep paying for a closed down airport? I doubt that's going to happen, but you never you never know.

What is the split on the land like? What is the percentage that Lazern County owns and what is the percentage that Lacawana owns there? Not owns because right now it would be by the two entities would own but it would be uh about 93% of it is resides in Lerner County.

Mr. Lcavage. So that was going to be my question too because I thought it was a 9010 split and then my idea isn't that it goes to funk but you know someone else comes in and swoops in and wants to buy it and then we kind of don't get our fair share for the amount of land that falls in Larern County in addition to what Mr. Thornton brought up too with the security and again we discussed this not long ago and I'm all in favor of security at the airport. I would never not want to pay for security at the airport if it's only left up to us. But if we're in a partnership, it should be a partnership. Don't call it one if it isn't. So that's ultimately where that should fall. That's it.

Uh no, Miss McDar and then Mr. Savino,

just in reference to the Atlas, you know, the um security there. I mean, we we have talked about it here and that is a separate issue. I know it's it is a concern of ours and obviously we'll talk about that when the DH comes in to do his budget. Um but that is um one thing that I did and I keep asking Lacawana County everybody that's in the board the board you know meeting knows that I do ask Lacawana County to put in some money. Now Chris Termach is trying to get some but as you know there's only two commissioners there. So um they might just be using last year's budget. I think at this point they will be and that's unfortunate because they had no money in there for of that. So that's where we're at. But I do keep asking as does um Mr. Griffiths, right?

Mhm.

All right, Mr. Okay. said, where does this agreement address that? We're going to discuss that separately or it's a a separate agreement or a separate addendum. And then um my other question is um dovetailing on what Mr. Luscavage said, you know, we are the ones that are funding things now because we are in a better financial position than Lacawana. Are we if there is a sale, do we get a reimbursement for their half of what we've been funding? like there's a lot of concerns I have about this, you know, and I think sometimes we get rushed into things and I'd rather I I understand the the urgency, but I'd rather take our time and and hammer out a little bit more of a firmer agreement than just a bare bones, bare knuckles agreement, you know. Um,

is there a drop deadad date for this contract? There there is. We really need to have it wrapped up before the end of the year. Okay. So, what does that mean? January 1 is when the the date is that we need to have it completed by. I I wouldn't go beyond January because that sends us into fiscal year 2026 for grant funding. Okay. Mr. Sabatino. And then um Attorney had a comment. And then Mr. Thoren. I guess my question is if this has been going on for some time, why hasn't it been brought to us before tonight? Uh, if anybody can answer that. All right. Um, attorney Skark.

So, um, it was mentioned that that they were pushing this because of grants, but like I said, there was three different agreements and just at our last meeting, which was a couple of weeks ago, um, Leanne asked for the final agreement and Nicholas sent us the final agreement. So, there have been a couple of different changes in the agreement. Some may have been because all the questions that I was asking um but the the question that you had about um the budget and all that. So if the budget is going to be the same budget as last year and they're going to adopt that budget, then it's going to be they're not going to be contributing funds because they didn't contri contribute them in 25. So, that is something again that you'd want to be able to bring up before this gets signed and say what kind of accommodation are you going to do to make sure that that you split the funds like a partnership would be. If we just if this is just um signed and that issue is not addressed, then you're going to have to litigate that issue if they're not contributing money in for the following year. It could be worked I'm not saying I'm not trying to be negative. I mean, anything could be worked out. I guess what I would what I would ask is that anything that Lazar count either county has paid extra like we are paying for security now that money be re returned to us before any other pro any other like Lacawana County share of that money would be returned to us before any other money are split. So we'd get that off the top like their share of what they're not paying now

when if should the airport be dissolved and we're splitting assets we should get our money back off the top of that right I didn't see I don't know their books so I don't know how they're booking that if that's like they're not booking if they're not booking it as a debt you're going to have to follow back the years to try to figure that out and I don't know that it's ever going to close down I mean I hope it wouldn't I like using the airport it's a great airport Mr. Mr. Mr. Thornton and then Mr. Wovich. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple I'm sorry. Go ahead, Mr. Thornon. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, a couple other concerns.

No, nobody in the private sector would go into partnership with someone as an equal 50/50 if you know for a fact they can't pay their share of expenses. I mean, imagine I form a landscape company with Mr. Perry and uh in the first month, one of our our biggest tractor breaks down. I say, "Chris, you know, we're Rico Partners. We got to pay $4,000 to fix this. Could you give me two?" He says, "No, I have no money. I'm sorry." And this goes on and on and on. Why would I want to form a partnership with an ending? I hate to use you, Mr. P. I know you would never do that. Um but I it just didn't make it doesn't make sense for us to sit here and say two weeks we should sign this agreement. These are all very valid concerns tonight that everybody brought up. All of them should be addressed before we sign or vote on anything in two weeks or even four weeks from now. Um, the other concern I have, we can't predict the future. We saw firsthand what a lack of security or police does at the airport, how much that costs. That was a lot of money that we had to do out of Loser County taxpayer funds. No Lacana County contribution. And I just want to say what if going forward, you know, we're working now with our own airport, the county airport over in 40, Wyoming, and I I I see firsthand all the big concerns there. Uh the fuel farm. What if there's an emergency situation at the Aoka airport with the fuel farm and something disastrous happens and it's a immediate $800,000 fix. We have to fix it or that airport's not going to function. So, it has to get fixed. Is is is Lacana County maybe going to say, "We're sorry. We didn't budget for that. We can't put 400 grand in. You guys pay for it now. We'll talk to you later." I just we can't foresee what might happen in the future there. Um these are all things that should be ironed out before tonight. I hate I hate getting cornered in a

corner, my back against the wall, saying, "Here it is. Two weeks. You got to vote on it or else." This has happened to us in the past here several times and I I just don't like it. Thank you, Mr. Luscavage. Then Mr. Wovich, sorry. Wow. I I called on Mr. Luscavage first. I

So, I brought this up the last time this came up with the security. Why can we not put whatever look at the parking and put a dollar on a parking ticket in that airport to pay for that? That would alleviate this whole conversation. I'd like to respond to the security and I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that the airport already pays the airport itself pays over a half a million dollars for security. The additional security that you were funding and Lacawana County is not funding is a separate U team. So

actually it's a police police. So, uh, there's a a a distinction between, uh, the hired security and and the police, but again, is that an option to put that on a parking ticket? I would not be able to comment on that at this time. Could you please find out? I could I can find out because I think that would alleviate, you know, this conversation. I brought it up before and it kind of died, but I think it's a good idea that if we put a dollar on a parking ticket, it would pay for that police protection at the airport.

We did uh we did bring that up. Uh those of us who are on the board, we did bring that up and what we were told was the airlines uh have to approve it that the airlines get a t cut of the parking. Uh that really doesn't I I I have to be honest. I I don't see it in the budget in the airport budget uh as reported that way but that's what we were told Mr. Lovage and also the airport does contribute towards the LEO program as well just Lacawana County does not right correct we contribute it's not 50/50 it's there's also a contribution from the airport the airport has contributed $60,000 to the LEO program

uh Mr. costs. So, it seems like this agreement coerces Lacawana County to get their fair share finally. Yeah. I mean, I like that part of the of the agreement. What I'm if I'm reading what I'm reading here makes sense to me.

However, I I I do have two issues. I mean, maybe it's a question for Mr. Scheme, maybe yourself, PJ. If we look at the it the charge on page 38 from the FAA is they're they're looking to identify a single federal sponsor. I mean, if if we're the pay if we're the entity that's paying the line share of the bills, can the agreement just state that Lutheran County is the point of contact for that? Does that that doesn't really change the existing partnership? Can is that a possibility that we could take that approach? I'm sure it'll be wildly popular in Lacuana County to put something like that out there, but it's basically ownership.

It's ownership. So, if if Luzern County alone took it, it would be county owning the airport. It would be a sole proprietorship. Then you're saying that no more partnership. It would just have to revert to that. Well, it has to be two entities and the two entities can't can't exist without being a single entity. So the partnership agreement makes it a single entity.

But I I think a concern for Councilman Sabatino, he's worried about some of the assets that we had that we invested in it already. Can't we put a caveat here saying the the current assets will stay stay true? I mean, legally, Mr. scheme if you could and I think that would rectify what your problem is what your concern is rather my other issue and it's it's unrelated I don't know if you want to address that somebody first because I have one more question as well is that a possibility could we could we do something we have we have the one of the attorneys yeah on

yes good evening sorry I apologize I had another meeting right before this that ran way way over what it was supposed to and I could not get out of it. So, thanks for for having me in. Okay. My goodness, Chair. All right. Have you heard Have you heard any of the uh dialogue that we've had? I I know I just saw you pop up like a minute ago. Um No, I have not. I have just uh in the last 60 seconds jumped on.

Okay. All right. Um did you have anything prepared that you wanted to speak on uh as before because council has a litany of questions they've been asking. Sure. Uh my goal with this session was just to review the parameters of kind of the agreement, the rationale behind it, why we uh have put this together and are putting this forward um you know as the airport's solution to an issue and then to answer any questions that you all may have. So, I don't know how much of that introductory piece BJ may have already covered. Um, but I'm happy to go into more detail about that or just take questions.

All right. I guess we could just Sure. Go ahead.

U, thank you, counselor. Um, initially my concern was I brought up the situation this uh past year where uh federal funding was cut for airport security and police uh that was in place as I think it was as of May this past year and um our district attorney came to us appropriately so and said we we have to suddenly foot the bill for this uh even though I understand airport does pay a good amount towards that 500,000 or something was spoken about tonight. However, he came to lo county us the council and said we need to uh you know start putting I think it was 11,000 a month. I'm just thinking off top of my head here 132,000 per year something like that. And um he said we need to come up with that. And my question to him was well how much of that is Lacawana County paying? and he said uh nothing because LA we went to Lacawana County and they said we're sorry we have no money and my question here tonight is the uh clause 2.03 03 under article two of this agreement uh speaks that the costs are to be shared equally responsible by both parties and that's obviously not the case or not the uh prevailing winds uh north of us I would say um I'm concerned if there's more uh bigger emergencies up there like a fuel farm failure or god forbid an emergency disaster and there's a large repair bill or the airport gets shut down if we don't fix it right away. Uh what happens if 800,000 is needed right away? And like when county says we didn't budget for that, we're sorry we don't have the 400,000 to give. So I said I would never go into partnership in the private sector with another entity when I know for a fact that when

there's expenses incurred the other my other half in partnership with you and I love realizing the profits and whatnot but I have no money to share with you for expenses. So that's my big concern. Uh the other concern we all seem to have is this this was kind of thrown at us on the 11th hour here and uh the other representative here asked us to uh you know please vote on this in two weeks from now and and we all agree that or most people that spoke said that's going to be difficult to achieve. So that was my concerns. Thank you.

Sure. So I I can't speak to sort of the dynamic between Luzern and Lacawana as to that that law enforcement issue. Um, our understanding and our direction in preparing this agreement as council to the airport was to try to memorialize the way that the board operates today and the way that the counties have, as I understand it, operated for 50 to 60 years in partnership in operation of of the airport. um on sort of the the timing of this agreement. Um you know, this is something that has been uh in varying stages of dispute with the FAA and in development at the airport level for now threeish years. Um, this was first brought to the airport's attention, uh, I think it was at some point in 2022, and we spent about two years trying to resolve this with the FAA without this partnership agreement. Um, we pushed back pretty hard on their claims that we needed something like this and ultimately we were not successful in convincing them of that. Um so you know I think this has this has had a process and we have tried not to elevate it to this level and unfortunately this is where we have landed.

M Stevenson you had a question. Um yes I know we have several other questions for gentlemen here but um is there a reason that Lacawana's commissioners are not currently a part of this discussion? Well they are but we're we're we're here in Lousern. We didn't invite them. We can do that and see if they want to come.

Are they I mean what what I apologize to other council members have questions, but what has their reaction been to this? Because I'm I'm fairly certain that the representatives from Lzern County have been bringing these concerns to the airport board meetings, especially while we're having this discussion about this. If you're talking about the LEO, uh, uh, Commissioner Shack, uh, is supportive, uh, and and trying to work something out, uh, and Commissioner Gan has said that he believes that the airport does not need police. Okay. Wow. Okay. That's okay. All right. Mr. Sabatino

to to address what Miss Stevenson was saying. I feel like we're at a disadvantage because we're 11 people trying to decide something and there are three people that get to go to all these well two now, but there are three commissioners that get to go to all these board meetings. So, they get to go in there in a unified setting and and come as a cohesive unit where you three are our are our our representatives and then we have to figure it out. So to have a discussion with them now to say, "Okay, we want to hammer things out a little bit differently would probably be the best way to go because we don't get the advantage that they do to only have three people show up and those three people make the decision."

But that's why we had our solicitors and and Rem was helping with that, too. But I mean, we had to get it together as much as we could. Can you imagine bringing it to to everybody way back when at least we narrowed down to this? So, I think we need to be able to list our concerns and hope that we can get an answer and it may not be today. Maybe we'll have to put it on a work session in two more weeks to be able to get those, but and and we can certainly ask county commissioners to be here. I don't know if they will show up. I'm just saying. Um but but certainly they could be invited.

So, would it be appropriate tonight for us to just compile our questions for the attorney that that's on the Zoom and get answers the next time around? I think that's fair and and I know and again this was this was discussed um in an executive session three weeks ago and I said I was going to have it on the October 14th and we were trying to get anformational session you know with several people individually but here we are. So again this is a starting point if it doesn't get voted on which I know it's not going to in two weeks so be it. But we have to keep the the discussion going. So, I would say let's compile our questions, our concerns, and be able to pick this up in uh So, we should send our questions to you by the end of the week.

Yeah. Would you be okay with our collecting all the questions and then forwarding them point of contact by the end of the week? Um, can we can we include the other members who are on the airport board from Luzar County just in those emails? Just CC the other members of the board, Mr. Wovich, Miss Cromo. Well, yeah. All right. Could be everybody. I fine with me. Well, no, I just mean make, you know, make sure that they're involved in that. You start the discussion so we have all the and and I would say everybody just respond back so that it's not the same question being asked, you know, over and over. Right. Okay. I I have a question for the attorney, Mr. Chair, if I could. I think it's going to help me craft the questions. I'll send to Miss McDermott,

but sir, um, welcome welcome to Wils Bear virtually. What can can you just explain to us what what is the drive behind the FF FAA mandating this? Is it just a single point of contact for for administrative purposes to to keep the bureaucracy down or are they looking to make a more egalitarian partnership? Is that what their drive is? Can you explain that to us and that might help us craft?

It has nothing to do with the relationship between the counties per se. Um, as many of you may know, there is an existing partnership agreement or cooperation agreement between the counties. Uh I believe it's from 1967 or 69. It's very old. It's two and a half pages long.

Um the FAA has certain standards for what uh agreements between what they call co-sponsors should look like. Um and we went through a very extended discussion with them about ways that we could change the agreement. Ultimately their point is and and their desire is that they want a single entity to sign grant agreements. Um and for many many years the grant agreements for the airport were signed as Wilsbury Scranton International Airport. Uh and the FAA told us that that nomenclature is not a legal and is therefore not legally able to accept grants from the federal government.

Makes sense.

And we went on a a long extended legal odyssey with them about how that name actually represented both counties signing together because that is the way that everyone has always interpreted it. Um, and the FAA rejected that approach. We tried a number of other approaches that I won't get into. Um, but ultimately what it came down to was the FAA told us that they needed a single entity as the sponsoring entity of the airport and the recipient of federal grants. And we explored the the three options essentially that the FAA put to uh the airport staff were one of the counties could accept the uh the grants on behalf of both counties essentially um or the two counties could form a third uh municipal entity like an airport authority. um or if there was some other route that the airport could come up with that resulted in a single entity um then the FAA would consider it and in coordination with some uh some other attorneys with Don Frederickson um and Mike Butra we came up with this partnership concept which you know is a sort of a nuance of that allows this to happen without the creation of a an authority through the Municipal Authorities Act. Um, so that's how we arrived here.

Attorney Sk. Oh, okay. All right. Uh, Mr. Sabatino, I guess my only question for you tonight, and I'm going to email a bunch to Miss McDermott, is who ultimately decided that this was the option to go with? Was it the the airport board or was it just the conversation that I I understand Don and Mike Butra had with the airport board about the potential options to address this issue and this was the instruction that we were given to to draft this document. And one more thing, can we get a copy of the original 1968 agreement? Sure. Thank you.

Yes. I don't believe the board of voted on that. Uh I was there at the tail end and that's when uh Randy Robertson came in and I left and then when I came back there was this partnership agreement but I I don't believe that the board actually voted on it, right? It just kind of happened like everything else. It basically happened at the direction of the attorneys. No, nobody really voted to to go in this direction. So there was a discussion. Okay. In executive session, but I don't believe that there was a vote and I I don't know. Yeah.

And I only got involved recently. And to be clear, th this it's a little awkward because this is not an action that the airport board should be taking. It is an action as between the two counties as a whole. Um, and so I think there was discussion at the airport board level to say this is the direction to go with this to resolve this FAA issue. Um, but it ultimately falls to both counties to to take that action. It's not an airport board action that can happen. So this this issue has been going on in some form for several years now.

Okay. I was I wasn't under the impression that this was something that was happening since the time of previous to Randy Robertson. Um and that would mean then that when we had the issue with the LEO staff that this agreement was still at the time in the works. So nothing of our concerns was reflected in this current agreement. I don't know if it was in the works uh because the partnership agreement has taken numerous forms um but there was discussion. My recollection and this is not looking at notes or anything. My recollection is that the FAA changed their format and it's has to do with a drop- down menu that we did not fit into that mo mold because we were one of the only if not the only airport that didn't have either a partnership agreement or an authority. The discussion was neither Luzernne or Lacawana uh had any interest at least when there's discussions on the board to form an authority and at that time there was no uh representation made by any of the counties that they would be the lead county. So by default it's a partnership and the partnership agreement has been going through um a lot of different minations and now we're at the point now where uh we uh LER County is coming to council with what is considered the final draft meaning it's the final draft of all

these minations council will have to vote on on it. Um, I can tell you at the time when the initial discussions were made, uh, Luzern County was not in a position to say we, uh, could be the lead. Uh I am very happy to say that we are now and that is an option that uh I believe that council needs needs to consider. Yes. I don't that is so helpful. Yeah. Thanks for the explanation. I I wouldn't be against that. Extremely valid.

And and what I do want to say and and I I don't want to speak for attorney, but we're looking at this agreement, this partnership agreement. We hope the airport survives all of us. It's a wonderful asset in northeastern Pennsylvania. Uh but uh we would like to have specific terms if somehow the airport fails. And we need to do that because if history is any indicator, we've been through this and we've been through litigation. Uh and uh we would just like to have something carved out uh should something happen. But we also I think are in a position right now in Lern County to say yes, we could be the lead county.

Yes,

that's that's exactly what I was driving. Thank you so much because I I think that's just what our end is. We want to protect our assets. uh attorney and I I look at something like this oftentimes when the the bigger levels of government get involved there's all these latent effects that happen things that are unanticipated and this is very important the asset part is how we're going to finance this I I get all that but I'm even looking at there's something in the name and if we start to call this the by county airport are we going to see that in airports across the country your flight leaves for by county airport in an hour and a half because that that's what I'm worried about something I it doesn't seem like it's more but it is because it's it's highlighting our area and I I that's my other question that I'll I'll craft a little better but is this going to go further than simply just a point of contact

because nothing passes precedent to Miss Smith I think the answer to that no because that's why it says AVP I don't think counties is going to be that's a Did Mr. Sabatino and then Mr. uh Thor? Manager Crocomo alluded to another thing. We did have a partnership agreement for the the uh baseball stadium in in music and that didn't end as well for Lazern County as it should have. So if one's bitten twice shy, we need to protect ourselves. So we need to take the steps to protect ourselves now instead of trying to litigate it later.

Mr. Thornton.

Thank you, Mr. chairman. Um again, for the benefit of uh the attorney on the wire out there, um thank you again for being here. Um I'm I'm dismayed tonight. I'm very dismayed at the fact that some of these concerns were voiced very loudly over the past year in public meetings here. And then I see an agreement written as it is, and I'm not blaming you or anybody here. Um, did anybody when they're writing this up say to themselves, "Huh, this is going to be a big problem. You know, we got this Thornton guy and council. He's raised these concerns. Did anybody have any discussions or was it just, you know, do the agreement, tell them to pass it in two weeks?" Because that's why I'm dismayed. I'm bothered by that fact. I don't I don't know how this came to be this quickly. And there was no discussion or concerns about all of our concerns that very publicly and loudly over the past year. Thank you. I'm not really expecting an answer. I'm just saying that's why I'm upset.

All right. Anything else from council members? Miss McDermott? Again, we we got it to a point where it could come to council and I know the rush is the problem, so we can't rush it at this point. We know that we have to have the discussion. But again, there was a starting point and that's where we're at. And going back to and I do recall it it was brought up that it could be an authority and I don't believe either county and you could put your you know but nobody wants an authority.

Okay. Anything else from council members? Go ahead. You might have pressed the button again. I have I have a loud voice. I think it's No, I think it's Yeah. No, I I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to be with you tonight and also thank our your members of council and manager Crocomo who serve on our airport board. We appreciate the time and effort that you put into it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. All right. Uh do we have public comment? Mr. Griffith. Thank you, Nick.

Thank you, councel. I'm sure you're going to be getting a lot of questions. So, that's that's fine. That I'm happy to answer any

I'm I'm kind of glad that Mr. Sabatino brought up the baseball team because that was right on the top of my list is that issue that we had with the a baseball team. Uh the LEO program was brought up at this council meeting many many times by me about when they canceled the contract through the FAA and cut the funding and the county was picking up the tab and we tried to get the airport board to address it. Hasn't been done. Uh Councilwoman McDermott and Mr. Wowitz have addressed it numerous times. They did raise the parking fee not too long ago and we were hoping somewhere along the line the county would realize that uh ambitious income that they've received and the reports show that they're getting lots of money at the airport but we're not realizing any as controller I spoke about that at the airport board meetings manager Crocomo and our our delegation that goes there every month has raised that issue we can't get buy in from the county commissioners from the other side so the concern that I have is everybody comes to Loser and county with a gun to our head and say, "Hey, you guys have to act or it's going to be curtains for everybody." How about we do that once? How about we go to the airport and say, "You know what? If you don't start pwning up your money, we're not going to have your airport security." I know that's a risk, but I I know they won't do that, but somebody needs to have enough uh stamina to say to somebody, if you can come to us now and tell us, you have two weeks to sign this or we're going to lose all kinds of money. Why don't we do that to them? un we do we always get the other side. Somebody's always forcing us to make a decision that benefits them. We never get the opportunity to make them make a decision that benefits us. We need to do that. They're telling us two weeks. They've been working on this thing for three years. He said three years. Nobody from this council knew it. I sit on the airport board with the members of the board. I've never heard one iota in the four years that I've been on that board as a controller. I've never heard a single word about this. I don't know if

any members of the uh delegation have talked about it in executive session, but here we are two weeks before the end of or well till the end of the year and they want this council to make a decision. It could cost the county a lot of money with no buyin. To Mr. Thornton's point is yeah, we're going to get into a partnership with somebody with no money. It makes no sense to me. They can't come up with half of $12,000 a month and we're going to risk all of it for an airport that may have a disaster and we'll end up paying. They can't come up with half of 12,000 a month. A lousy $6,000 a month they can't come up with from the Lacawana County. Kudos to the airport. They're giving us $2500 towards that LEO program which helps. But we're paying the lion share of that and there should be an agreement. They canled that agreement with the council when they took the funding away and council never did anything to them to say you don't have an agreement. We're not allowing the DA to do that. The DA can do it. He's independent. But we need to have a little bit more strong will to these people that are always holding guns to our head saying it's time for us to make a decision. I don't think that's right. This council has a right to know this stuff. When something's wrong, you guys should know. And I appreciate, you know, you guys standing firm on this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Griffith. Anybody else? Public comment in the audience. All right, we have one on the Zoom, Mr. Rabbo. Mr. Chairman, can you hear me? Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As far as the airport goes, uh I just wanted to remind you and council and the manager and if the district attorney is listening that I did send emails to all of you last year when this was or when this was brought up and about the LEO program and the security uh the funding that was needed for the airport. And I would direct your attention, Mr. Chair and members of council and manager Crocot, to the uh TSA Homeland Security Program for security fees that was implemented after in the aftermath of 9 Septe September 11th called the uh September 11th security fee which is collected by the air carriers from the passengers at the time uh air transportation is purchased meaning from their tickets. uh air carriers then remit the fees to TSA and then the fee is currently at $5.60 per one-way trip in an air transportation uh that originates at an airport uh in the United States except that fee is imposed uh per round trip that shall not exceed $11.20 for the round trip. So I think that is uh something that the airport board, the losser and you guys uh should take up uh very strong consideration for. And as far as uh creating an airport authority, uh Mr. chairman. Uh I don't think uh it would behoove the Luzer County to enter into a co-op uh authority similar to Lehi and Northampton County which has the Lehigh Valley Regional Airport. So, and I do believe they use this uh September 11th security fee for their security uh funding. So, I think Mr. Chairman and also I believe they use a baggage fee if I'm not mistaken uh last

time I checked. So, uh, you might want to, uh, have the manager or yourself, uh, contact the Lehigh Valley Regional Airport or their, uh, authority, one of their authority board members to, uh, and as on a side note, uh, as far as with the court funding, Mr. Chairman, the manager brought up uh you know uh the uh other counties. I would like to uh make for your edification and council's edification that Alageney County uh paid for the lion share the three lawsuits that uh all recognized that uh the county should get their reimbursements. And uh the last time that had happened in 2013, Alageney County and the six other counties were shortch changed uh in the payment of that lawsuit uh the last lawsuit uh from the uh from the Supreme Court in 2013. So uh it's going to take a little time if you're going to try to get all the counties, especially Alageney County, uh to pony up money from lawsuit when they paid for the other three. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Rabbo. Anybody else for public comment? Is there a motion to adjurnn? Second. All in favor? I opposed. Meetings adjourned. Thank you very much.