Lebanon County Commissioners act on rail trail, park funding requests

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

Actions surrounding the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail and Coleman Memorial Park highlighted the Thursday meeting of the Lebanon County Commissioners. 

Commissioners took two separate unanimous actions concerning these key outdoor recreational assets. One move involved providing a letter of financial support for $90,000 for Phase 6D construction of the Lebanon Valley Rails to Trails project. 

That funding is from dollars previously earmarked as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars received several years ago by county officials from the federal government. Municipalities nationwide were provided ARPA funding to stimulate the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Lebanon County’s share of that pot was over $27 million.

The second move was to provide $5,000 for the Friends of Coleman Memorial Park’s Summer Concert Series. Funds will help cover a projected budget of $8,500 to advertise the musical programs held on Sunday nights throughout the summer. 

That funding is from the county’s share of the Hotel Tax Grant program, which are dollars received from a tax on lodging units in Lebanon County that’s split between Visit Lebanon Valley, the Lebanon Valley Expo Center & Fairgrounds, and county government for disbursement for programs that help put “heads in beds.”

This vote came after an earlier presentation by three park officials who provided an update on 2025 activities at the park and gave a preview of 2026 events.

Coleman Memorial Park annual report

Park board vice president Joe Morales provided an update on 2025 activities and some plans for the coming year. He noted there will be a dedication ceremony for the new dog park in the coming months, and the pickleball courts built in 2025 will field two new tournaments in 2026 in addition to one returning from last year.  

“It was a big year for us,” Morales said. “We had our first tournament, and the pickleball court has been well received. Folks love it. Things we’re hearing from folks that are using the pickleball court is they love the fact that it’s under the trees. And most of the other courts around, which we know there are a thousand pickleball courts in the county now, but we have the beauty of being in the wooded park.” 

He said the athletic fields are “a huge part of the park,” which had about 5,200 visitors and 63 countywide youth baseball games last year, according to the annual report.

“The tournaments that we have most weekends are bringing in folks from all over the northeast to include Canada. So we talk about Coleman Park being a regional asset and this is one of the things that makes it a regional asset,” Morales said. “This is not just a city park. We’re supporting the county and, of course, bringing in visitors from throughout the Northeast.”

This year marks the 35th season of Music in the Park and the 19th edition of the Sweep the Streets basketball tournament. Morales said the events had a “huge turnout” and were “a great success.”

Also taking center stage in 2026 is fundraising through sponsorship of park benches.

“Adopt a Bench if you want to memorialize or if you want to remember someone. We have a bench program where we will put up a bench. I put it wherever you would want the bench, within reason,” Morales said, adding 2025 was the first year for this program. “It’s been a great success to see benches springing up throughout the park, which you would think would be a common-sense thing to have in a park.”

Cost to sponsor a park bench is $750, which is good for 10 years. 

“We’re very excited about that, and we also had our first annual fundraising appeal that started last year. We raised about $20,000 there, so we’re super proud about that. 2026 appeal letters went out just recently, and we’re excited about the prospect that this will be a yearly thing to try and raise funds for the park,” added Morales.

Lydya Renninger, secretary for the Friends of Coleman Memorial Park, noted a new reggae festival is coming to the park in 2026, and the summer concert series and Movies in the Park will continue this year. A new focus to document the park’s ecology will highlight 2026 activities.

“As far as the park grounds and ecology, we really have stepped up in the educational efforts. Our park is gorgeous and it really houses a lot of rare species of things, historic species of things, and then native things,” Renninger said. “So we’re trying to really make a spotlight on that, what the actual ecology of the park can offer for Lebanon and its wildlife that moves through it.”

She said these efforts will include “some seasonal awareness, some nature guides to help people understand the change of season, what that looks like for our environment, and then native seedling introductions and invasive plant removals.”

Visit the Coleman Memorial Park’s website for more information.

Lebanon Valley Rail Trail

Jon Fitzkee, senior planner for the Lebanon County Planning Department, presented the request for ARPA funding for Phase 6D, which he said is the portion of rail trail from U.S. Route 422 through the Lebanon Valley Mall property.

“So that will get us over to Phase 7, which obviously runs out through the Lebanon Rails Business Park. So this will actually help us to close one of the real critical links and, as you guys are all aware of, we’re working really hard with the 6C project that will take it up 22nd Street and do that partial road rail line bridge replacement,” Fitzkee said.

He noted an application for Phase 6D construction was submitted in November. 

“The total amount for construction was $711,388. And what we’re asking for today is a request from DCED as part of our application, which is in review, is a letter of financial support for the $90,000 of ARPA funds to support this project,” he added.

Other county business

In other business, commissioners unanimously voted to:

• Amend 13 contracts in the Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities/Early Intervention Department totaling $170,832 for fiscal year 2025-26. Those funds are covered with current allocations, meaning no additional taxpayer dollars are needed to cover them. There were five contracts for early intervention, three for intellectual disabilities, three for building improvement projects, and two for mental health.
• Sign an Office of Developmental Programs Administrative Entity Operating agreement for the county’s Intellectual Disabilities for the next five years. It was noted there were many additional requirements, duties and responsibilities since the last contract was signed in 2019 – all without additional funding for a staff member to handle them, which include oversight of providers and the services they deliver.
• Provide a letter of support to Annville Cleona School District for the submission of an $1.85 million grant application to the Department of Community and Economic Development.
• Send a letter of support on behalf of Cornwall Borough for a Marcellus Shale Grant contract extension of up to one year for the Snitz Creek Phase I Improvements project. Permitting delays through the Department of Environmental Protection led to the extension request. This project was one of 15 to receive a portion of $228,000 in Marcellus Shale grant funding that was approved by the commissioners on April 18, 2024.
• Name Amy Lenardon and Jennifer Bair to the South Central Workforce Development board. Lenardon is the human resources director at Bayer Corp. while Bair is program director at the Lancaster-Lebanon Literacy Council.
• Grant a number of personnel transactions. 
• Accept the treasurer report, including a beginning cash balance of $285,917.30, plus receipts of $1,645,994.97, for a cash balance of $1,931,912.27. Less expenditures of $1,391,244.92 and a tax claim of $131,507.51, leaving a cash balance of $409,159.84 (which includes Friday’s county employee payroll).
• Provide real estate tax exemptions to five fully disabled veterans or their families.
• Receive a fourth quarter update from Stifel concerning the county’s investments for its retirement fund. There was a balance of $144 million at the beginning of the fourth quarter and an ending balance of $142.1 million by the end. There was a return of 8.3% on funds during the quarter.
• Approve the minutes of their Feb. 5 meeting and executive session to discuss personnel matters concerning union contract negotiations on Feb. 4.

Next meeting

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. The next regularly scheduled meeting is on Thursday, March 5.