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WILKES-BARRE &#8212; With several board members debating whether they had enough information to make a decision, Wilkes-Barre Area School Board voted Monday to have the district&#8217;s team of architects and engineers begin paperwork needed for state reimbursement on any future high school construction.Board Members Dino Galella, James Susek and John Quinn voiced concerns about starting the paperwork so early, but state officials have advised districts planning any construction to submit the papers, known as &#8220;PlanCon part A&#8221; by July 1 because Gov. Tom Wolf wants to place a moratorium on the state reimbursement program after that.The board expects to receive reports from three separate committees &#8212; one comprised of board members, one an &#8220;internal task force&#8221; of district employees and one an &#8220;external task force&#8221; of district residents &#8212; by June 8. All three have been debating scenarios for renovating or replacing the three aging high schools. Those scenarios were presented in a feasibility report unveiled late last year that cost more than $400,000.To complete PlanCon A, the board will have to decide on a scenario that specifies if a new high school will be built, what size it will be and where it would be placed. Galella, Susek and Quinn said they were not ready to vote on anything that specific, but Solicitor Ray Wendolowski stressed Monday&#8217;s vote was to authorize the design team to start doing &#8220;common denominator work&#8221; that has to be completed regardless of what building decisions they make.That work will be done at a cost &#8220;not to exceed $67,500.&#8221;The board scheduled a special meeting May 28 at 6 p.m. at Solomon/Plains Junior High School for general purposes, including approving a preliminary budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year. By state law, a preliminary budget must be approved by the end of May and a final one by June 30.At the request of Vice President Joe Caffrey the board also agreed to hold a public information session following the May 28 meeting at which the internal and external task forces would provide their reports on the high school project. Caffrey also promised to provide the board feasibility committee report by the June 8 monthly meeting.Wendolowski said after those meetings the board would have to make a decision by June 11 or 12 on which high school plan to submit to the state. Waiting any longer would make it impossible for the design team to complete PlanCon A paperwork by July 1, he predicted.The board also briefly discussed project cost when Galella questioned how the PlanCon paperwork could be completed &#8220;when we don&#8217;t even know if we can get a loan we can afford.&#8221; The scenarios under consideration range from renovating all three existing high schools to building two new smaller ones or one larger one, with the highest estimate topping $230 million.Quinn said he believes the cost won&#8217;t exceed $100 million, and insisted the board will work hard to keep it as low as possible.Caffrey said the board has taken on a task prior boards ignored. &#8220;We finally have a board that that doesn&#8217;t want to kick the can down the road,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and soon it will be decision time.&#8221;Superintendent Bernard Prevuznak said the district can&#8217;t afford to keep patching the aging buildings, saying that choice would lead to bankruptcy.

Wilkes-Barre Area OKs construction reimbursement paperwork