Wilkes-Barre council approves six of seven grant and equipment requests; one item received no motion

Wilkes-Barre City Council approved six of seven items on its Sept. 25 agenda, including several state Local Share Account (LSA) grant applications and hardware purchases; one item, a Penn Plaza revitalization application tied to CV LTD, received no motion and was not considered.

The council convened with Mayor George Brown and four voting council members present: Councilman Thomas Barrett, Councilman Mirren, Councilwoman Macleay and Councilman Brooks (Councilman Belishko was excused). The clerk called for separate votes on each item, and council members voted on them individually.

Items approved included: a hazard mitigation grant program fund application; an LSA grant for an ambulance for the fire department; a King’s College Safety and Security Project Phase 3 LSA application; the Wyoming Valley Challenger Baseball Field lighting project; a backup generator at the Cole Street Complex; and a computer purchase project for Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services. The Penn Plaza/CV LTD revitalization application received no motion and was not acted on.

Councilman Thomas Barrett made several of the motions and Councilwoman Macleay seconded multiple items during the roll-call votes. The council recorded a formal abstention for the Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Service computer purchase: the transcript records one member saying “Abstain conflict” before the rest of the roll call continued.

Because the council voted on each item separately, motions, seconds and the roll-call votes were read into the record for each application. The clerk recorded the outcomes as approved for the six acted-on items and “no motion” for the Penn Plaza item.

The approvals allow staff to proceed with grant applications and project steps that will require subsequent administrative work, grant acceptance and, in some cases, contractor procurement. The council did not provide additional funding detail or implementation timelines during the meeting for each approved project; staff follow-up and project-specific details were not specified in the record.

The item that received no motion — the Penn Plaza revitalization application tied to CV LTD — drew several public comments earlier in the meeting raising concerns about using public grant programs for private property improvements. No motion or vote was recorded on that application during the Sept. 25 meeting.

Council actions recorded in the minutes will be followed by administrative processing of grant applications and any necessary intergovernmental agreements or contracts.