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Now that a merger is out, the Luzerne County’s Transportation Authority will proceed with selecting its executive director and other personnel decisions that had been on hold, said authority board Chairman Charles Sciandra.

The authority had pushed for a committee to explore a management consolidation with the County of Lackawanna Transit System (COLTS), arguing it would improve service and reduce costs. However, Lackawanna officials recently declined to participate.

The authority held off on hiring a permanent executive director, a full-time human resources director and other positions due to the possibility they “could be consolidated into a new organization,” Sciandra said, referring to the merger.

Lee Horton is “doing a superb job” as interim executive director, but Sciandra said the board will likely advertise the position to determine if others also are interested.

Horton, the operations director, has been interim director since September 2019, when the authority board terminated Norm Gavlick.

Sciandra said the authority’s new state-of-the-art transportation center at the 12-acre former Murray complex site on South Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre also is on track, with construction expected to begin later this year.

Board members haven’t decided the fate of the current authority complex in Kingston, but Sciandra said a sale is likely.

Sciandra said the halting of a merger study with COLTS was “very disappointing” because the potential savings had exceeded $1 million when the concept was last studied about a decade ago.

Public transportation systems have successfully consolidated in other parts of the state, he said, citing the Harrisburg and Reading areas as examples.

“Somewhere down the road, I think the state is going to force the situation because it has worked in other areas,” Sciandra said.

The county provides a match of approximately $667,000 required for the authority to receive millions of dollars in state funding to offer public bus and van service.

Sciandra said he does not foresee an increase in state funding next year. The authority received coronavirus stumulus funding to help compensate for a pandemic-related ridership decline, he said, noting others across the state have experienced similar passenger reductions.

“The stimulus money will keep us going, but that won’t last forever,” Sciandra said. “We’re looking to control our costs wherever we can.”

He wants to reach out to Hazleton Public Transit, which provides public transportation in the county’s southern half, to discuss possible consolidation. The county provides a $180,000 match to Hazleton Public Transit.

With merger out, LCTA will proceed with hiring permanent director