This year brought a lot of changes to the Carbon County government seat as two new commissioners, as well as several new row officers were sworn in to various departments on Jan. 6.

Chris Lukasevich and Rocky Ahner were sworn in before their new colleagues and family to make up the three-person board of commissioners, completed by longtime Commissioner Wayne Nothstein.

In addition, Michael S. Greek became the first Republican district attorney in the county since 1976, defeating Jean A. Engler, who had become the first female DA after longtime DA Gary F. Dobias retired.

He was joined by several other Republicans, shifting the county away from a primarily Democratic county. Other new row office holders included Tyra Boni, who won the clerk of courts seat; Kayla M. Semmel, prothonotary; Mark Sverchek, county controller; and Donna L. Gentile, recorder of deeds.

Lukasevich wasted no time in getting down to business as he made several pages of motions during his first meeting as commissioner, including his desire to reopen the 2020 budget. That motion failed.

After a rocky start, the board quickly found common ground and began working as one unit on various projects.

Kiosks

The commissioners continued the previous board’s project in converting the county parking lot to a kiosk system for parking.

The project began in May 2019.

The county purchased the 15 kiosks for the lot and metered areas on Lehigh Avenue and Susquehanna Street from Butts Ticket Company in Cochranville in August 2019.

The total cost of the purchase was $175,550 and was taken out of the parking fund, which is generated by parking fees in the lot.

In July, the board purchased three CitePro hand held enforcement devices from United Public Safety of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania at a cost of $ $22,383.64 for the first year and $11,483.64 in years two and three. These devices will be used to read license plates and issue parking tickets.

The kiosks will act as part of a solution in a traffic study that was completed by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance for the borough in the hopes of avoiding congestion on weekends in Jim Thorpe.

The county is finalizing the steps needed to implement the new parking fee system.

COVID-19

The commissioners passed an emergency declaration, which was recently extended until June 2021, and also made the tough decision to furlough nearly 100 employees in April after the COVID-19 pandemic began taking hold of the world.

Furloughed employees were called back as the county began ramping up operations again.

Several changes to county operations were also made within the buildings to ensure the safety of the county employees and the public, but in November, several cases of the virus were reported in various departments and approximately 118 employees of the 300 full-time staff had to be tested.

Social media

Commissioner Chris Lukasevich spearheaded the county’s effort to create a social media presence through Facebook in April.

“During this challenging time, and in consideration of an absolute necessity for social distancing and the safety of citizens and county employees, the Board of Commissioners launched its Facebook page, Carbon County Commissioners, to ensure the public could remain involved and informed on the uninterrupted and essential activities of its county government,” Lukasevich said at the time.

Since then, the county adopted a social media policy and several other county departments, including the sheriff’s office, veteran’s affairs and district attorney have created Facebook pages.

Capital project

In June, the county unveiled an updated renovation project in an effort to resolve space issues in several county offices.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner noted at the time that the start of the plan is to renovate the past Archives and 76 buildings on Susquehanna Street in what will be known as the 44/76 Renovation Project.

“During this time the three of us (commissioners) and an architect met with several stakeholders, including the departments, to have their input,” he said. “From the start, our focus was to allow for growth, save tax dollars, make access for the public and employees user friendly and fit the architecture of Jim Thorpe.”

The county opened bids in October and the project is expected to cost just under $4 million.

The 44 Building will have the partial second floor removed and a full height second floor will be added to create a two-story building on the original building footprint. This building will house the departments of Elections, Planning and Workforce that is currently at 76 Susquehanna.

With this move, the 76 Building will be renovated to accommodate adult probation, Veterans Affairs and juvenile probation on the first floor with children & youth and domestic relations staying on the second floor.

The projected time of completion should be around August 2021, so elections could be operating and preparing for the November general election.