Lackawanna County is making good on its promise to take control over who sells what in county parks.
The commissioners on Wednesday awarded a concessionaire license to Joannie's Balonies, 125 Maple St., Moscow, to sell food and other items at Covington Park.
It is the first license issued since the commissioners adopted an ordinance last year to require mobile concessionaires to be licensed before setting up at a county park or recreation area.
The ordinance is intended to give the Department of Parks and Recreation a measure of control over what is sold in the parks. Only one concessionaire license is being issued per park.
Joannie's Balonies, which submitted the lone proposal for Covington Park, will pay $50 for its one-year license, said David Pettinato, deputy director of purchasing. He pointed out Covington is the county's newest park and does not have a history of public usage.
"Because of that - new park, possibly a limited season, a lot of unknowns because it is new - we did it at that number," Mr. Pettinato said.
The county has made no decisions about McDade, Merli-Sarnoski and Aylesworth parks and is still interested in hearing from potential concessionaires, he said.
"The others are much more established parks, and we do know the traffic at those parks," he said.
The commissioners also:
- Awarded a contract to McGrail, Merkel, Quinn & Associates, Scranton, to audit the county retirement fund for 2012. The firm will be paid no more than $13,500.
- Acting as the salary board, approved a part-time administrative officer position at the prison at $22 an hour. The position will be filled by Len Bogart, who is retiring as full-time administrative officer but will continue to work two days a week, Warden Robert McMillan said. The board also increased the annual salary of the administrative assistant in the Soil Conservation office from $28,500 to $30,900.
- Presented the Women's Resource Center and executive director Peg Ruddy with a "Good Works in Lackawanna County" certificate of recognition.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com