Lebanon Valley Rail Trail, municipal building receive construction funding

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

Funding for two construction projects was unanimously approved by Lebanon County Commissioners at their Sept. 4 meeting. 

The first project is for remodeling of the Lebanon County courthouse/municipal building at an initial amount of $504,221 as part of Phase 1A renovations. That figure will rise before the end of the month since the price tag only covers general construction and mechanical/plumbing. No bids were received for the electrical contract.  

The other project funding approved was $144,100 for final design work for a Lebanon Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) rehabilitation project near Mount Gretna.

County municipal building renovation project

County administrator Jamie Wolgemuth said bids were received and processed for this phase, which includes two departments of the municipal building.

“This particular phase involves the Public Defenders and the Assessment Office, and bids were solicited, advertised, received, opened, reviewed, and we’re here today to make a recommendation for Phase 1A,” Wolgemuth said. “There were three prime contracts for this: general construction, mechanical, and electrical.”

He said bids were received for only two of those three areas.

“Unfortunately, we did not receive any electrical bids at all. There’s a pretty healthy number of general construction, a couple of mechanicals and, again, no electrical,” Wolgemuth said. 

Wolgemuth said that triggered an email from project architects Beers + Hoffman to the recommended general and mechanical contractors to provide a no-bid change order for the electrical construction contract. Bids are due from them by Sept. 16 so the electrical construction contract can be awarded at the Sept. 18 commissioners meeting. 

Wolgemuth recommended and commissioners approved hiring low bidders Funk Construction of Lebanon for $307,621 for general construction and Myerstown-based SAS Inc. for $196,600 for mechanical/plumbing.

Wolgemuth said included in the general construction bid are what he called “value-added alternates,” which are solid surface countertops and window blinds. He noted that while Funk wasn’t the lowest bidder at the base price – that was Woodland Contractors – they did become the low bidder once costs for the alternates were added to the mix.

Other bids ranged from $315,729 from JEM Construction Group as the next lowest bidder to a high of $413,600 from Uhrig Construction from the five total bids that were received for general construction.

Wolgemuth said only two bids were received for mechanical/plumbing construction, with the next closest bidder being Vision Mechanical of West Reading at $318,000.

“For the mechanical, we had two bids. They were pretty far apart,” Wolgemuth said. “I guess no real explanation for that. I mean, sometimes contractors are just ready for the work and become more competitive.”

Work is expected to begin in October on Phase 1A. Other phases are expected to begin following completion of that portion and continue through the end of next year.  

“From here until the end of next year, this is going to be – this is a total of four phases, but even some of those are broken down in A and B. So we will be getting into that,” Wolgemuth said. “And this sort of kicks off the domino. We’re going to be going into the next phases.”

The phases are spread out for a reason, he added.

“Some of that is because we have to shuffle one department to get the work done. And you can’t get the other one in until that space is done,” Wolgemuth said. “It’s just going to be a lot of logistics here on out. But this is the first phase.”

Phase 2 will encompass Children & Youth Services, the sheriff’s office, and the former Department of Emergency Services spaces downstairs, followed by the District Attorney, Victim Witness, and other areas for Children & Youth.

Phase 3 is elections, human resources, and the solicitor, all on the second floor of the municipal building. Phase 4 entails the law library, court administration and miscellaneous areas, according to Wolgemuth.

In December, LebTown reported that the county estimated the project to cost between $5.1 million and $7.4 million. County officials proposed using $3.062 million of ARPA funds toward the renovations, which includes remodeling the former city buildings and asbestos abatement.

Read More: County Commissioners allocate over $3 million in ARPA funds for four projects

LVRT rehabilitation project

Tom Kotay, grant writer for LVRT, requested the release of previously approved American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for work to be performed on just over 5.5 miles of the county’s rail trail, south of Butler Road to the county line near Colebrook. 

ARPA funding comes at no additional cost to taxpayers since those federal dollars were provided to municipalities during the COVID-19 pandemic to stimulate the economy.

Kotay said the scope of work for this project includes clearing and grubbing; cleaning and approving existing swales, culverts, ditches and drainage areas; bituminous paving in several poor drainage areas; grading and resurfacing with limestone stone dust, new signage, new roadway pavement markings, cleaning and painting existing bollards and gates, and installing one new bollard and gate.

Kotay said the nonprofit organization did not investigate paving the entire section since some bikers prefer riding on a limestone surface and to discourage prohibited E-bike users, which is already a problem in some areas, from riding that area of the trail.

“E-bikes are on the rise and if you give them a solid surface, they’ll ride at 40 miles per hour instead of at 15 miles per hour,” he said, adding that only Class 1 E-bikes are allowed on the LVRT. “We need to be careful where we pave and where we repave because there are people who are not following our rules.”

The areas to be paved will assist in drainage on that portion of the trail, he added.   

“Certain areas of it will be paved,” Kotay said. “It’s essentially in areas where we’ve had drainage issues before, and where we’re constantly going back to regrade, re-put down stone dust and re-pact that surface. There are basically three areas south of Butler Road to the county line where we need to (pave).”

Kotay told commissioners that PennDOT will pay for a majority of the project, if approved by the state agency, using Transportation Alternative Set-Aside (TASA) funding to cover construction costs. 

LVRT is responsible for paying pre-construction costs. Kotay told commissioners the entire cost of the project is over $1.61 million, with construction set to commence next summer or fall if PennDOT awards LVRT the TASA funding.

“This is a unique program where the applicant, if he or she or they are approved, they have to get the project ready for construction, ready for a bid letting. And then PennDOT pays everything else,” Kotay said. “This is a very costly project, $1.613 million. I’ve talked to folks at PennDOT. They’re not surprised by that. They think that’s a figure that can be fundable.”

Other county business

In other business, commissioners unanimously agreed to:

• Issue a proclamation opposing the state budget impasse, now in its third month.
• Hire Camp Hill-based CertraPro Painters to paint the main entrance/lobby area, two stairwells and ground floor hallway at the Lebanon County Area Agency on Aging building for $12,930.29.
• Proclaim Oct. 9 annually as Ageism Awareness Day in Lebanon County. The proclamation also recognizes the Aging Your Way Festival to be held on that date by the county’s aging agency.  It was noted that there are over 39,000 Lebanon County citizens over the age of 60 who are impacted by ageism.
• Provide $3,000 of a $5,000 request through the county’s hotel tax grant fund to the Drunken Smithy for their Spookvember event Nov. 1-2 at Lebanon Valley Mall.  
• Appoint Brett Balmer of Mount Gretna to the Clarence Schock Memorial Park at Governor Dick board of directors, filling a seat vacated by Dave Eichler when his term expired on June 30. 
• Name Pam Tricamo to Lebanon County’s AmericaPA250 committee.
• Accept the treasurer’s report and various personnel transactions through the human resources department. As part of the resignation announcements, it was stated that the last day of employment for Joy Scarborough, deputy director of Lebanon County Voters Registration/Elections, is Nov. 14. Additionally, commissioners voted to immediately eliminate the position of park ranger at Clarence Schock Memorial Park at Governor Dick.
• Provide a real estate tax exemption for one disabled veteran or their family.  
• Approve the minutes of the Aug. 21 meeting and their Aug. 27 workshop, which was followed immediately by an executive session.  

It was announced at the start of the meeting that commissioners had met in executive session on Wednesday, Sept. 3, to discuss personnel. 

Lebanon County Commissioners meet the first and third Thursday of the month at 9:30 a.m. in Room 207 of the county municipal building, 400 S. 8th St., Lebanon.