Volunteers shed light on Luzerne County American Rescue Plan-funded project

Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.

In vivid detail, Al Flora and John Sinclair recently described how the Northwest Area Little League made the most of its $250,000 American Rescue Plan allocation from Luzerne County Council.

Speaking during a council meeting with several young players in the front row, Flora said the grant covered the cost of materials for a new lighting system at the league’s Shickshinny area complex, but not the labor to install it.

“I can tell you the labor was extensive, and it was all volunteer,” said Flora, an attorney and active league supporter.

He introduced league vice president and coach Sinclair, a Pennsylvania-registered professional electrical engineer who volunteered his time and expertise to plan the project, help with installation and supervise fellow volunteers “to make this project a reality.”

Notified of the grant award in March 2023, Sinclair said the league knew it had to get cracking to ensure the project was fully completed by its July 1, 2024 deadline.

After designing the project and researching vendors, the league settled on a system from Wisconsin-based Musco Lighting because it specializes in sports lighting and met stringent Little League requirements.

The order was placed the end of June, and the “real work” began after July 4, when a “horde” of volunteers appeared to start trenching, he said.

On one of the project work days alone, a group of 13 adults and five Little League players dug 1,000 feet of trenching and installed more than 5,000 feet of electrical conduit, he said.

“So almost a mile of conduit was put underground,” he said.

Everything was backfilled and sealed up to allow games to safely continue there.

The lighting started arriving in mid-August, and the volunteers worked with a local contractor who provided the equipment to drill holes down 12 feet for the concrete foundations.

Once the foundations were completed, the “fun started happening,” he said.

In early September, the volunteers pulled in more than 14,000 feet of wire underground for the lights and used a loaned crane to set the 60-foot-high poles, which weigh about 2,600 pounds fully loaded, he said.

A dozen triaxles of stone — 240 tons — was placed around trenches and pole foundations to illuminate two fields.

“So within about two weeks we had our poles off the trucks and up in the air and ready to go,” he told council.

Sept. 10 was a night Sinclair said he will remember the rest of his life.

With all the wiring connections completed, he and other adults were like anxious kids unable to delay testing out the new system.

Urgent messages went out to players and parents to be there at 8:30 p.m., fingers crossed.

It was a clear night, and there was a collective countdown that ended in cheers over the transformation.

“I don’t think there was a dry eye amongst any of the volunteers standing there,” Sinclair said. “A bunch of T-ball, softball, minor and major boys all on their own went down and played a pick-up game of whiffle ball.”

Sinclair said he and the others soaked in the scene.

“I still get emotional thinking about it because what we did that day, that year, that summer was for that reason — to see those kids play that game together and work together.”

The second field was for the girls softball league organized in 1975, which was never lighted, he said.

That league played its first game under lights on Sept. 15, and Sinclair said he received texts of thanks and descriptions of girls crying on the field in response to the experience.

In all, the volunteer group of 13 adults and five players logged more than 1,000 hours working on the project, he said.

Musco representatives repeatedly expressed surprise at the swiftness of the project completion, compared to the typical contractor timetable, he said.

Before the county earmark, the league was struggling to figure out how it could come up with $30,000 to $40,000 to replace the poles and crossarms of the prior outdated lighting system, he said.

Because the new lights meet Little League requirements, Sinclair said his league can now host district games and tournaments, including a girls softball district tournament this summer.

The new lighting comes with a 25-year warranty, which means the league doesn’t have to worry about maintenance and can focus on developing programs, players and the complex, he said.

He described the energy savings as “kind of jaw dropping.”

The switch to LED lights will save more than $2,000 annually on the league’s electric bill — while lighting two fields instead of one, he said.

Sinclair estimated the savings on maintenance and electricity will total $70,000 over 25 years, and he expects the new lighting will hold up for 50 to 60 years.

Spectators also appreciate that the lighting reaches the once-dark parking area, he said.

With night lighting, late games were added to make it easier to schedule two games per week for the more than 230 players on 21 teams, he said.

This year’s participation of more than 230 Little Leaguers is impressive, Sinclair said.

“That is huge considering that most programs are in decline and have been in decline for many years,” he said.

Flora said the volunteer engineering and labor provided by Sinclair is “hard to imagine.” He noted league coach Brian Tomassacci donated his crane, backhoe and bulldozer and operated the equipment to install the lights.

The Northwest Area Little League was organized in 1971, Flora said. The complex is used by youth from 10 municipalities in the southwest area of the county, he said. There’s also a challenger program for children with disabilities.

Sinclair presented council with a plaque sliced from one of the old lighting poles bearing a laser-etched league logo, thanking council for its dedication to the youth and the public “gift” of an American Rescue allocation.

“We hope we’re doing it right and doing it right for everybody out there,” Sinclair said.

In turn, council Chairman John Lombardo thanked the men for taking the time to share how the allocation impacted them, saying it “was not easy” when council had to determine how the money would be awarded amid a demand that far exceeded available funding.

Council earmarked $55 million of the federal funding to 113 outside entities.

A fanatical baseball lover, county Manager Romilda Crocamo said she recently visited the field for the league’s opening ceremony and wants to return for a game.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.