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Wyoming mayor alleges irregularities in police car purchases

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Pavement markings added to make WB railroad crossings safer

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A contract approved Thursday to sweep state roads for $3,573 raised questions for council vice chairman Bill Barrett.</p><p>In a 5-0 vote that included Barrett&#8217;s, council unanimously supported the deal with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to sweep and clean 12.5 miles of roads and be reimbursed by the state for a little more than $132 an hour.</p><p>Barrett&#8217;s concerns focused on the city doing too much and getting too little in return, especially with Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s financial struggles.</p><p>&#8220;I want to make sure that we are getting reimbursed for things other than sweeping,&#8221; Barrett said.</p><p>Some of the state roads are in bad shape and Barrett has often brought up the poor condition of Scott Street in District D that he represents.</p><p>&#8220;If that amount of money, $3,500, $3,600 a year for all the state-owned roads in the city, covers more than keeping them clean that&#8217;s a gift. And we&#8217;re certainly losing our shirt on that if we&#8217;re doing 12 miles of state roads for $3,600,&#8221; Barrett said.</p><p>He suggested the city keep track of excess costs that are incurred so it can bill the state for compensation.</p><p><strong>Gift card</strong></p><p>Councilman Tony Brooks also referred to a gift during his comments.</p><p>Brooks raised the $280 gift card that Mayor Tony George received last year from RC Theatres Wilkes-Barre Movies 14 that recently came to light.</p><p>The city applied for a state grant on behalf of that company, but George has denied doing any favors in exchange for the gift card.</p><p>Some on council, however, do not like the optics of the situation.</p><p>&#8220;The gift that Mayor George accepted, to me it comes down to an appearance problem. I will commend the mayor for reporting it and so he did the legal thing to do,&#8221; Brooks said. &#8220;But none of us should take gifts of any kind whatsoever.&#8221;</p><p>Brooks said he doesn&#8217;t take gifts from anyone who does business with the city and floated the idea of drafting legislation to limit contributions.</p><p>Councilwoman Beth Gilbert concurred with Brooks and said she would work with him and the rest of council on legislation.</p><p>&#8220;This is something that council has talked about before and I think it&#8217;s something we can all come to some sort of compromise on,&#8221; Gilbert said.</p><p>Brooks also said he was encouraged about the start of negotiations for the Luzerne County Transportation Authority to purchase the former Murray Complex along South Pennsylvania Avenue. &#8220;If this all works out, that&#8217;s 170 jobs the come to Wilkes-Barre,&#8221; Brooks said. The city would benefit additionally from the Earned Income Tax, the $52-a-year Emergency Services Tax, and possibly a payment in lieu of taxes from the authority, he said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Barrett </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Bill-Barrett.jpg</photo0><caption0>Barrett </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Councilman worried street-sweeping deal could take WB to the cleaners