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Former Luzerne County operational services division head Tanis Manseau has returned to county government employment as a planning/zoning office transportation planner, officials said.

The position pays $51,000. All compensation and benefits are covered by the Lackawanna/Luzerne Metropolitan Planning Organization, or MPO, an entity established by law to determine how federal and state highway and bridge funds are allocated, county Manager C. David Pedri recently told the county council.

Manseau had abruptly resigned from the division head position, which included oversight of the planning/zoning office where he now works, in October 2015. He has declined to elaborate on the reason, but some speculated he had clashed with then-county manager Robert Lawton.

A state-licensed professional engineer, Manseau had relocated from South Carolina to accept the $85,000 division head position in May 2014. He has more than 35 years of public and private sector experience in construction, project and facilities management and energy engineering.

“I’m glad to be back,” Manseau said Tuesday, citing his plans to help develop a capital plan that will make the county transportation network safer and smoother.

County Planning/Zoning Executive Director James Ferry said Tuesday Manseau’s experience stood out and will be an asset in assessing and prioritizing county transportation needs that should be addressed with future state and federal funding.

The county is taking a more proactive role in the MPO because its participation was “very spotty at best” from the time Adrian Merolli retired as planning/zoning director in December 2013 until 2016, when Ferry and Pedri were hired for their current positions, Pedri said.

Pedri sits on the MPO coordinating committee along with 10 representatives from the state transportation department, Lackawanna County, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, public transit and aviation. There’s also an 18-person MPO technical committee that includes three county planning/zoning staffers.

“I am pleased to say now that we are fully invested in the MPO,” Pedri told the council.

Included in the Luzerne County transportation projects scheduled to be bid out through March, according to information from Pedri and the state:

• Bridge replacement on Route 2035 over Meadow Run in Bear Creek Township.

• Edge-line rumble strip installation and shoulder paving on Route 115 in several municipalities.

• Resurfacing of North Main Street in Plymouth Township and West Union Street and Pond Hill Road in Shickshinny borough and Union and Hunlock townships.

• Bridge replacement on Route 437 over the Creasy Creek tributary in Dennison Township.

• Concrete overlay and bridge preservation on westbound Interstate 80 over the Nescopeck Creek tributary in Butler Township, Oley Creek in Dennison and Foster townships and the Linesville Creek tributary in White Haven.

• Bridge replacement on Stone Church Road over Stone Church Hollow Creek in Salem Township.

• Resurfacing of three roads: Route 93 in West Hazleton, Hazleton and Sugarloaf Township; Route 3004 in Newport Township; and Route 92 in Exeter borough and township.

Manseau
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_tanis.jpg.optimal.jpgManseau

By Jennifer Learn-Andes

[email protected]

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.