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WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; The Luzerne County Convention Center Authority rejected bids for the installation of acoustical panels at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza due to contractors&#8217; failure to meet bidding requirements.Three contractors submitted bids for the project by the Feb. 19 deadline, but one of them did not include a bid bond and the others did not provide a list of qualifications, said authority solicitor Joseph Persico.Mountain Productions, of Wilkes-Barre, came in with the lowest bid of $254,556, followed by Mar-Paul Construction Co. Inc., of Jessup, at $264,000 and Panzitta Enterprises, of Wilkes-Barre, at $279,000.The authority met at a special meeting Monday afternoon to award the contract so the work could potentially be completed in time for the March 18 Blake Shelton concert. But the panels won&#8217;t be installed for the concert and authority Chairman Dave Palermo said the 11 board members can continue the discussion at the March 9 public meeting.There is no time frame to rebid the project or for the work to be done, added Donna Cupinski, chairman of the board&#8217;s future directions committee. The board must comply with the bidding process established by Wilkes-Barre Township, the host municipality, that last year received a $100,000 Local Share Account grant for the project from gambling revenues of the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino in Plains Township. The board planned to pay for the additional cost of the project with funds issued through a bond for capital improvement.&#8220;Their guidelines state that it has to be advertised in two local newspapers no less than three days apart and no less than 10 days before the bid opening,&#8221; Cupinski said. &#8220;We have to follow those rules and that&#8217;s going to dictate when this stuff gets done.&#8221;The project sparked a discussion among the six board members in attendance about prioritizing improvement at the facility that opened in 1999.Angelo Answini, chairman of the construction committee, raised concerns about the acoustical panels possibly placing more weight on the roof supports. The board paid between $60,000 and $70,000 for a study to look into adding more steel supports in order to handle the rigging and equipment required to host bigger shows, he said. But it never acted on the study, Answini said.&#8220;Right now, to me, the steel is what&#8217;s going to bring in revenue,&#8221; Answini said.His suggestion the board develop a plan to address projects drew the support of Palermo.&#8220;I think as a board, as a whole, we have to commit to either one or two more lengthy planning sessions where we talk as a whole board as opposed to committees coming in with their ideas,&#8221; Palermo said.The board did not vote on proceeding with the construction of &#8220;club pub&#8221; on the concourse area. Bids were received earlier this month on adding the pub for the exclusive use of club seat holders. But a vendor occupies the space for the proposed pub and relocation costs were not included in the bids. The board asked Persico to determine whether the relocation cost could be included as a change order or if it required a separate bid.Palermo said it has to be done as a separate bid which the board will discuss at a later date.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Jerry Lynottjlynott@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</shirttailMeta></div>

Bids for acoustical panels at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza rejected