Luzerne County’s administration wants to use federal coronavirus funding to add a medical observation area above the sally port at the county prison on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre, which is shown here.
Times Leader file photo
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Luzerne County’s administration sought bids and zoning approval to build a 2,088-square-foot addition on top of the prison’s sally port dock, but it’s unlikely the project will proceed this year, county Manager C. David Pedri said Wednesday.
The work must be completed by the end of this year to be eligible for funding from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which is the only stream available to pay for the work at this time, Pedri said.
That timeline is too tight because contractors would have to cut an opening into the exterior of the Water Street prison in Wilkes-Barre to provide access to the new second-floor area and add security features — in addition to the new construction, said county Engineer Lawrence Plesh.
“It’s involved,” Plesh said.
Still, Plesh said it made sense to complete the design and seek zoning approval in case additional coronavirus aid or other funding becomes available next year.
County Correctional Services Division Head Mark Rockovich said the proposal was developed to create rooms for physical and mental health treatment and observation because those services are currently limited to a small area. The new space also would help with social distancing and segregation, he said.
However, a second coronavirus-funded prison project is still actively in the works, said Rockovich and Pedri.
This project would add heating and air conditioning, showers and restrooms at the prison gym in case the space is needed for inmate housing in a coronavirus outbreak or other mass medical situation down the road.
In addition to serving as quarantine space for new arrivals, the gym could house a makeshift medical unit, providing onsite treatment instead of requiring inmates to be transported to the hospital with as many as three correctional officers necessary round-the-clock, Rockovich has said.
The gym is large enough to allow 30 cots with social distancing and barriers between them, Rockovich has estimated. Venting could be designed to move air out of the gym so it is not recirculated throughout the prison, he said.
Zoning approval was not required for the gym project.
Bids for both projects were due Tuesday.
Five companies submitted base bids ranging from $1.63 million to $2.8 million to build the addition, with deductions if the county opts to eliminate two components involving steps and a specific type of stone panel, the tally shows.
Additional bids from various companies were separately submitted for HVAC, plumbing, fire protection and electrical installation.
The county was still in the process of tallying bid submissions for the gym project Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
County Budget/Finance Division Head Brian Swetz is set to present an update on county coronavirus-funded projects at Tuesday’s council meeting, Pedri said.
In a Wednesday night meeting, the Wilkes-Barre Zoning Hearing Board granted the county’s request for a special exception for the addition above the sally port.
Board approval is required because the enlargement of a detention facility is a non-conforming use in an M-1 zone, its agenda said.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.