City of Scranton Council Responses | February 10, 2026

1. Council President Tom Schuster asked the following questions:
   • Per the response to last week’s query regarding city inspection of pave cuts by city inspectors, Mr. Schuster asked how the city is ensuring those weekly drive-by or inspections of the pave cuts to the project are accomplished and entered by the inspectors? The Green Ridge water company project was referenced.
     • Any time Pennoni is dispatched, the City or Pennoni will find the relevant permit for the work or immediately notify the non-permitted utility. Pennoni drafts a physical inspection report detailing their conversations, which is emailed to the proper City employees. Failed work is handled on a case-by-case basis with either Pennoni or the City reaching out to the utility to rectify any issues. Pennoni logs the house spent on site to the respective permit in OpenGov so the City call bill the utility. This is the passthrough payment. If concerns are not addressed by utilities in a timely manner, violations may be issued.
       
       Pennoni was dispatched to Green Ridge on Wednesday morning after concerns were raised by Council. Reports were sent with failing areas, and Pennoni had already tied the reports to the respective permits, contractors, and utilities. Utilities have been notified of failing area with photos and permit numbers and have been asked to dress the sites to the best of their ability until asphalt plants open.
       
       With current temperatures and snow, hot-mix asphalt should not be used, even from a hot asphalt hopper/paver. Cold patch can be used to dress sites temporarily but cannot withstand heavy traffic for months at a time. Cold patch also runs the risk of either being ripped off completely by a snow plow or damaging a snow plow from the standard lift in which asphalt is installed. For the same reason, steel plates cannot be laid down as they require being pinned to the road and will damage snow plows.
   • Regarding snow routes, does the Rubicon system assist in city snow routes?
     • We are not using Routewate in conjunction with snow removal.
   • In the ARPA spreadsheet received from the administration in the 2/3 response, regarding categories subcontracted out to groups such as NeighborWorks, Scranton Tomorrow, etc.;
     • How does the city track the grants?
       • The city tracks ARPA grants through subrecipient check-ins, quarterly reports, and a software tracking program.
     • May Council have a list of what was given to those entities?
       • The administration is assuming Council is referring to subrecipients.
         • NeighborWorks – Business Façade: $115, 981.26
         • NeighborWorks – Home Buyer: $549,900
         • NeighborWorks – Home Rehab: $200,000
         • United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania (UNC) – Business Façade: $101,728.59
         • UNC – Disaster Relief, Temporary Housing: $28,201
         • Scranton Tomorrow – Business Façade: $52,715.46
         • Agency for Community Empowerment (ACE) – Weatherization: $400,000
         • Scranton Area Community Foundation (SAF) – Small Business: $1,161,098.02
         • SAF – Childcare Individual: $410,611.04
         • SAF – Childcare Wage Boost: $238,146
         • SAF – Disaster Relief, Individual Assistance: $383,690
     • How do they portion those out to those individuals and businesses, including the education category, as well?
       • The administration, with guidance from the ARPA consultant, developed program guidance in compliance with ARPA rules that the subrecipient was required to follow.
     • Mr. Schuster asked for an update on the Providence Square repair project. Is the city looking toward the insurance route, as previously reported, and may Council have an update?
       • The city administration did investigate an insurance claim, but it is not a viable option.
   • Mr. Schuster and Mr. Sean McAndrew both had questions regarding an audit on the ARPA funding and if City Council may have a copy? Where are we at related to an audit? Is it something that happens afterward and what is the timeline of when that will occur?
     • An audit is required for the ARPA funding and performed annually. The last audit was presented to council 9/30/25 and is posted on the city website. A copy is attached for your convenience, as well as a copy of the ARPA programmatic audit.
2. Councilman Sean McAndrew asked the following:
   • Regarding the post storm report to be compiled by DPW. May this report be placed on the city website at the same time it is forwarded to City Council?
     • The administration can discuss additional DPW concerns with Council in an executive session.
   • What was the plan leading into the storm and may Council have a copy of the plan?
     • The city was pre-treating city bridges, hills, and roadways with brine. At the onset of the storm, roadways were salted to get a heavy base of materials down. The plan during the height of the storm was to maintain critical roadways throughout each section of the city with an emphasis on hospital routes, hills, and intersections through continual plowing to move snow off the roadways. The post-storm phase was to improve, open, and treat roads.
   • Mr. McAndrew asked, during a snowstorm with no trash pickup, are the teams assigned other duties such a clearing snow on bridges and sidewalks?
     • Yes, the labor force is assigned to clear bridges
   • Councilman McAndrew advised that he is not receiving emails from some parties to his city email even though they claim the emails were sent. He referenced recent emails from the Scranton School District regarding the snowstorm. He indicated other Council members also did not receive the SSD emails. Mr. McAndrew would like to meet with Jack Reager, City IT Director, to discuss and clarify.
     • The IT Director will discuss with Mr. McAndrew.
3. Council Vice President Patrick Flynn asked the following questions:
   • During the recent snow event, the administration advised council that the contractor plow trucks were deployed at the direction of the DPW Director:
     • What was the direction of the Director?
       • Contractor plow trucks were not used. Contract assets were utilized to scoop and remove snow to widen the roadways from curb to curb. The direction from the DPW Director was for contractors to widen designated roadways by removing snow to designated dump locations.
     • What time did the plowing operations begin in each specific area of the city?
       • Plow operators were on duty starting at 4 a.m. the morning the storm arrived. All trucks were loaded with salt and anti-skid materials. The trucks deployed at 6 a.m. as the first flakes of snow started to fall with the instruction to lay down a base of materials on every street in the city.
     • The city ran continuous overtime shifts beginning at 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning. What was the priority order for the plowing?
       • The priority of work during the height of the storm was to maintain critical roadways throughout each section of the city with emphasis on hospital routes, hills and intersections through continual plowing to move snow off the roadways.
     • It was stated that operational decisions are made by the DPW Director based on weather conditions. What were those operational decisions for this specific snowstorm as many areas around hospitals and schools. What was the priority order was for this specific storm just more so in an effort if there is something we need to change that?
       • The priority of work during the storm was to maintain critical roadways throughout each section of the city with emphasis on hospital routes, hills and intersections through continual plowing to move snow off the roadways. The National Weather Service projection for the duration was more than 30 hours. The DPW Director based his operational decision on the projection modeling, and available resources to apportion them throughout the storm. The storm at one time was dropping over an inch of snow per hour, and the overall sustained rate of snowfall required staying in a maintenance mode to render the roads passible until the conclusion of the storm.
     • At what point during the storm were there plows that were ready and available to be our plowing that were not on the streets due to lack of manpower? Mr. Flynn referenced the high number of call offs. What are other things that these workers could be doing? Was the plowing hampered by the many call-offs or are they two separate issues? Council would like to get a fuller view.
       • The administration can discuss additional DPW concerns with Council in an executive session.
   • Regarding the Meadowbrook project and the condemnation on some of the properties;
     • How many of the properties on project have a portion of the line that actually impacts their house and goes under their actual dwelling versus a portion of their backyard?
     • May Council please have a listing of those properties and owners?
       • This is pending a response from the Pennsylvania DEP.

Responses to City Council – February 10, 2026 | PDF

Last modified: February 11, 2026