WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Members of organizations hoping to receive funds made available by the federal government are questioning how Luzerne County is doling out the money.
Attorney Al Flora in Wilkes-Barre is one of many people who worked on an application for a nonprofit, hoping to get some of the $60 million that Luzerne County received from the federal government's American Rescue Plan.
"The organization that I helped offers a summer and fall program to approximately 300 children ages 4 through 13 in seven municipalities in the southern and southwestern part of Luzerne County," explained Flora.
Unfortunately, after a round of scoring by members of the Luzerne County Council, the nonprofit Flora represented didn't score high enough to be awarded any funding.
"Some of the kids suffer from intellectual and physical disabilities, and we decided to put an application in, particularly since the pandemic caused the program to be completely closed down for one summer," added Flora.
Seventy-five others, including businesses and organizations, scored high enough, including the Jewish Community Alliance. Council decided it should get $15 million in American Rescue Plan money. The JCA tells Newswatch 16 it applied for the money as a community partner and would funnel the money to another entity to renovate parts of Kirby and Nesbitt Parks in Wilkes-Barre.
When Newswatch 16 asked the JCA what this project had to do with pandemic hardship, its lawyer told us to ask State Representative Aaron Kaufer for clarification. He has not been available to speak with us.
"I thought it was for nonprofits that, you know, had to shut down, couldn't raise money," said Flora. "I never thought it was for all these other things. And so, there's really something amiss with this, and then when you have politicians getting into the picture and everything, there's something wrong with the process here."
"The key to a grant review process is to minimize bias, ensure transparency, and then the system — will the process be trustworthy?" added Flora.
Following this and an issue of five applicants being left out of the scoring process due to a technical glitch, Matt Mitchell, a member of the Luzerne County Council, is proposing a new approach. Instead of an applicant getting all the money requested, Mitchell wants to cap the awards based on four categories.
Municipalities and municipal authorities could get up to $2 million, nonprofits up to $500,000, and small businesses would get no more than $100,000.
Flora agrees this approach would spread the $60 million among more applicants, including the one he represents.
Mitchell's plan is slated to be discussed at Tuesday night's council work session in Luzerne County.
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