The Carbon County commissioners on Thursday welcomed Frank Lawski, whose photographs of the new foot bridge are featured in a magazine this month.

Lawski, who lives in Mount Carmel, took more than 1,500 photographs last year as the cranes placed the new foot bridge along the Delaware & Lehigh Trail. Lawski submitted his photographs and an article to American Cranes and Transport, a trade magazine for the crane industry.

One of Lawski’s photographs was featured on the cover of the magazine, and a two and a half page feature article was published in the February 2018 edition.

Lawski included a brief history of the town of Jim Thorpe in the article as well as mentioning all of the attractions and activities the town offers visitors.

Lawski presented the county with a framed copy of the article.

“There is a lot of history in Jim Thorpe,” Commissioner William O’Gurek said. “And this also documents the history of this bridge and it will be here for years to come.”

“I want to thank Frank personally for this,” Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard said. “We have it all here in Carbon County. I can’t wait for the ribbon cutting.”

The bridge will be dedicated on June 11.

Snow emergency

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein announced that the county had declared a “state of emergency” on Wednesday due to the snow and ice storm that blanketed the area. The county closed down its offices at noon.

Nothstein said that by declaring the emergency, the county may be able to recover the cost of some of the materials, such as salt, if the state were also to declare emergency status for the storm. He said that each township and borough is responsible for its own declaration.

Other business

In addition, the commissioners opened the only bid received for the printing of election forms and ballots. The only bidder was Reliance Graphics of West Chester. The bid was for $25,000 and included the bid bond.

O’Gurek made a motion to table the award until the solicitor had an opportunity to review the response. The decision was tabled until the next meeting.

The commissioners also approved and executed an agreement with RKL LLP of Wyomissing for auditing services for 2017 and 2018 with options for two additional years. The cost of 2017 audit services is $43,500 and 2018 audit services at $44,800.

The service contract for pest control in county buildings was renewed with Seitz Brothers Exterminating at a rate of $4,055 per year.