Crowd objects to Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority’s lease with US Department of Homeland Security

Approximately 30 citizens appeared at Tuesday’s Luzerne County’s Flood Protection Authority meeting — most objecting to its leasing of unused space in the authority’s Forty Fort headquarters to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Nine of the 10 speakers during public comment urged the authority to cancel the lease due to the actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The last speaker spoke in support of ICE and its local presence.

Before public comment, authority Board Chairman Dominic Yannuzzi said the five-member authority board is not political and is all-volunteer. The authority’s lease negotiations started more than two years ago under the prior federal administration.

The lease is not an approval or disapproval of ICE policies and procedures and was “strictly business” to generate revenue from a substantial portion of the building not in use, Yannuzzi said. The additional revenue will help reduce the burden on Wyoming Valley Levee fee payers to maintain the flood control system along the Susquehanna River, which protects approximately 100,000 residents in 12 municipalities, he said.

No other individuals or organizations were interested in leasing the space when the opportunity was publicly advertised, and the authority board publicly voted on the lease last fall, he said, stressing the public had “full and fair opportunity” to weigh in on the matter at that time.

Bear Creek resident Claire Schechter said she appreciates Yannuzzi’s explanation but hopes the board respects her opinion that the board “should be ashamed and embarrassed” to overshadow the authority’s record of protecting the county from dangerous floods by “aligning yourself with one of the worst groups of malicious and non-law abiding thugs to be found in our country today.”

“The current-day ICE has no important purpose other than fulfilling assigned quotas of deportees” without due process, Schechter said.

Michael Mattei, of Forty Fort, listed a series of recent reports involving ICE to illustrate deportation without due process and said he is not only faulting the presidential administration.

“This is not a [Donald] Trump problem. This is not a political problem. This is an ICE problem,” Mattei said.

He said authority board members “still have a chance” to reverse the decision because they had not yet approved the bid award to prepare the vacant space for the federal agency.

The board unanimously voted later in the meeting to award the general construction contract to low-bidder Bognet Inc. in Hazle Township for $160,417 and the electrical construction contract to the sole bidder, Larry McCullion & Son Electrical Construction Services in Summit Hill for $154,610.

Authority Executive Director Christopher Belleman said Homeland Security will pay the authority approximately $30,000 annually to lease 1,700 square feet of space for three years, with the option for an additional two-year renewal.

Wilkes-Barre resident Delmar Guziewicz said he does not want an ICE office in the county because it is “running around with no oversight,” asserting the agency is targeting people for the “crime of having dark skin and tattoos.” He maintained ICE acts of “immorality and barbarism and quite frankly thuggishness on the streets” will deter tourists from visiting the region.

Anthony Farah, of Hanover Township, said he pays the levee fee and believes the authority should seek additional revenue another way that does not involve ICE.

“I’m proud of what the flood authority does and the ways that they protect us, but you’re being detrimental to the protection of our community. By having ICE in here, you might as well let the flood gates open, figuratively and literally,” Farah said.

Forty Fort resident Mary Ann Dillon, a member of the Sisters of Mercy, said she is “deeply troubled” over ICE having a dedicated space in the borough.

“What is a really wonderful, warm, neighborhood community could be unintentionally divided in a way that was not good for everyone” as a result of the action, she said.

Laura Pinero, of Duryea, said the lease must be immediately terminated and questioned the authority’s rejection of her Right-to-Know request for a copy of the lease. She said she learned the authority has a non-disclosure agreement regarding the lease and does not believe that is appropriate.

Authority co-solicitor Jeffrey Rockman said after the meeting the non-disclosure agreement was required by ICE so security information is not divulged to the public. He said the public information request was denied because there is an exception in state law to protect the release of security information, but the matter will be decided by the state Office of Open Records on appeal.

Mountain Top resident Michael Nicotera said the failure to release a standard commercial lease shows a “complete lack of transparency.”

Nicotera questioned if detention space will be installed and whether helicopters will land at the nearby county-owned Wyoming Valley Airport to remove detainees.

Belleman said after the meeting the plans do not call for detention or holding cells. The renovations should be completed by the end of the summer, he said.

Most of the meeting attendees clapped after each of the anti-ICE speakers. Security was provided by county sheriff deputies at the authority’s request.

Larksville resident Dwayne McDavitt presented the lone voice of support for the lease and was applauded by several of his like-minded allies.

McDavitt said he grew up in the Kingston/Forty Fort area, has 25 years in law enforcement and is a retired county correctional lieutenant. He said he believes the people speaking against ICE are “100% wrong.”

He referred to past cases of ICE housing undocumented people in the prison for alleged crimes.

“My question to the crowd who is against ICE is are you willing to take these people into your home?” McDavitt said.

McDavitt, who had a “Bikers for Trump” patch on the back of his jacket, said those entering the country illegally are committing a crime.

“They are human beings 100%, but there’s a proper way to come to our country. There’s a process,” McDavitt said. “To become an American citizen, it takes time. Why should they be allowed to jump the line?”

Exeter, Duryea levees

In other business Tuesday, the authority voted to temporarily pause Duryea and Exeter levee design efforts based on the recent termination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program.

Exeter officials wanted to construct an earthen levee in the area of Susquehanna Avenue to prevent flooding of approximately 270 residential and commercial structures. Duryea wanted to bring its levee up to federal standards.

The authority’s pause will continue unless alternate grant programs become available to help fund anticipated construction costs, it said.

FEMA’s release said it was ending the “wasteful, politicized grant program” and returning the agency to its “core mission of helping Americans recovering from natural disasters.”

Authority Board member Jay Delaney said during Tuesday’s meeting FEMA had been proactive and is now reactive, and he believes it is “shameful” that assistance for Duryea and Exeter must be stopped.