Lebanon County Commissioners act on municipal construction, tower projects

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

Lebanon County Commissioners took two actions Jan. 15 related to ongoing renovations at the county municipal building. 

A unanimously approved motion was hiring Fidevia, a Lititz-based construction management firm, to manage the project moving forward. The second action related to a change order for Phase 1A of the renovation project.

County administrator Jamie Wolgemuth noted the management firm comes at the recommendation of Beers + Hoffman, the county’s architect firm for this project. Wolgemuth said Fidevia will begin work starting with the launch of the next phase. Commissioners hired them at a maximum fee of $83,700. 

“The first phase that we’re in right now is in the newest part of the building. It wasn’t too complicated for construction, but I think as everyone knows, we get into the existing building part or the older part of the building,” Wolgemuth said. “It will be and probably dealing with more subs, potentially more contractors. All along we had hoped we would be able to get someone on board to conduct the orchestra, so to speak.”

Wolgemuth added Fidevia is well-regarded in the construction industry.

“They are a well-known firm. They, again, come recommended by Beers Hoffman,” Wolgemuth said. “They’ve done a number of projects in Lebanon County, including Lebanon School District, Cornwall-Lebanon School District, South Londonderry Township, Northern Lebanon School District, etc.”

Before the vote to approve the hire, Wolgemuth noted the company will bill the county hourly up to the set amount for the project, which is being paid with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. The money was provided by the federal government to local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic to spur economic growth.

Lebanon County received about $27 million of $1.9 billion in federal aid disbursed nationwide for capital projects across the Lebanon Valley that meet specific program guidelines.

During 2026, construction workers will complete eight phases of renovations around a majority of the county municipal building, LebTown previously reported. The facelift is projected to cost between $5.1 million and $7.4 million, predominantly funded through ARPA.

Phase 1A encompasses renovations to the adjacent public defenders and assessment offices on the first floor. It’s well underway and slated for completion in mid-February.

The second action at Thursday’s meeting was a change order for the extension of the hallway divider wall on the first floor at the assessment and public defenders offices. 

“This will extend it from the wall height to the floor deck up to the bottom of the second floor. This is something that as they took it apart and as they’re going to replace the whole ceiling, additional fire rating is needed,” Wolgemuth said.

The approved change order totals  $18,644.95. Total change orders are with contractor Arthur Funk & Sons Inc. of Lebanon and now total $465,855.95 during this phase of the project, which began towards the end of 2025.

During a recent exclusive interview with LebTown concerning the project, Wolgemuth said some phases may be revised over what was previously announced. Asked last Thursday after the commissioners’ meeting if the scheduled had been revised, Wolgemuth said it hasn’t because he wants to get Fidevia’s involvement on the tentative revisions before announcing potential changes.

At this time and unless revisions are made to the plan, Phase 2 will encompass renovations to offices for Children & Youth Services, the sheriff, and the former Department of Emergency Services spaces downstairs, followed by the district attorney and victim witness.

DES radio tower project

Bob Dowd, director of the Department of Emergency Services, presented a change order for the county’s new emergency radio system project. 

Dowd asked and commissioners unanimously approved a change order with L3Harris Technologies totaling $113,062.50. 

Prior to the approval, Dowd noted the change order is to mostly re-engineer the microwave path for the nine towers the county is installing to enhances communications for the county’s emergency radio network. 

“Now that we have finally gotten through the phase of determining exactly where all the towers are going to be, allows us to move forward with installing the radio system. This will result in another change order once we determine what hardware changes are necessary from this re-engineering, but this is the first piece,” Dowd said. “This is going to come out of the contingency that we budgeted for the radio system.”

Other county business

In other business, commissioners unanimously agreed to: 

• Certify the county’s matching funds for the statewide farmland preservation funds totaling $385,106 for fiscal year 2026. This figure contains the county match of $275,785 and rollback tax penalties via the Clean & Green program totaling $109,321.
• Accept the treasurer’s report, which included a beginning cash balance of $1,176,074.96 and receipts totaling $4,000,936.50, which brought the total cash balance to $5,177,011.46. Less expenditures of $4,370,381.32 and less tax bill of $2,055.70, leaving an ending cash balance of $857,574.44.
• Purchase two defibrillators at a cost of $3,201.80 for the Lebanon County Probation Department through the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania’s PCoRP Loss Prevention Grant program. The two current devices are at the end of their life cycle, and the purchase comes at no cost to county taxpayers. 
• Renew two conflict criminal attorney contracts at the same price and same terms. The first is with Buzgon Davis Law Offices for four criminal appointments per month at $4,000 per month. The second is with Jacobson, Julius, and Harshberger Law Offices for seven appointments per month at $7,000 per month.  
• Grant an $800 funding request via the hotel tax grant program to promote two races, the Coleman Memorial Park 5K & Breast Cancer Awareness 5K events.
• Renew two farm leases for county-owned property. The first is 12.3 acres along Route 422 East in South Lebanon Township, behind and around the PennDOT Driver’s Center. That lease is with Kenneth J. Rice of Fox Road, Lebanon, for $1,200 per year. The second parcel is one acre along Route 934 in South Annville Township, and the lease is with Lauren Horning of Fontana Avenue, Lebanon, for $150 a year. It was noted that the acre completes the rest of a field owned by Horning. 
• Provide real estate tax exemptions to two full disabled veterans or their families.
• Approve various personnel transactions. 
• Approve the minutes of their Jan. 8 meeting.

Next meeting

Lebanon County Commissioners meet the first and third Thursday of the month at 9:30 a.m. in Room 207 of the Lebanon County Municipal Building, 400 S. 8th St., Lebanon. The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 5.