Luzerne County Council plans to vote on a new partnership agreement with Lackawanna County on ownership of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.
Council Chairman Jimmy Sabatino said he plans to put the agreement on the Jan. 27 agenda for a vote. Council reviewed the agreement during a work session last Tuesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration wants Luzerne and Lackawanna counties to approve a new partnership agreement that would allow the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport to continue to receive FAA funding.
The FAA wants a single federal sponsor of the airport for the purposes of federal grant administration and compliance. Under a 1968 agreement between the counties to share ownership of the airport, both counties are sponsors.
The name of the new partnership entity would be “AVP Bi-County Partnership.” The airport has an Avoca mailing address and is primarily in Pittston Twp. in Luzerne County.
Luzerne County council members expressed various concerns with the proposed partnership agreement at a meeting on Oct. 14 and noted Lackawanna County’s unwillingness to provide funding to pay law enforcement officers at the airport. That dispute was resolved in November.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Luzerne County Councilwoman Lee Ann McDermott said Luzerne County Solicitor Harry Skene and attorney Donald Frederickson, who has served as airport co-solicitor for Lackawanna County, “worked very hard on this agreement for months going back and forth.” She added the agreement “is wonderful because now we can apply for our grants that the airport needs to survive.”
Councilman John Lombardo noted “a leadership change in Lackawanna County” helped lead to the current agreement under consideration.
“There’s clearly a bipartisan team there now working together,” Lombardo said. “And I know members of Luzerne county governmebt have spoken to them and they’re willing to work with us in the future on the airport, take a more active role, and bear an equal role with respect to financials.”
After Matt McGloin resigned as Lackawanna County commissioner in late February 2025, Lackawanna County only had two commissioners — Democrat Bill Gaughan and Republican Chris Chermak — while a long and contentious replacement process followed. In October, Brenda Sacco was appointed as an interim commissioner, and she served in that capacity for about 35 days before Thom Welby replaced her in late November.
Welby, a Democrat, won a two-year term in a special election in November and was elected chairman of the three-member board of commissioners during a Jan. 5 reorganization session. Welby also voted with Chermak to make Chermak vice chairman over Gaughan’s objections.
Under the new partnership agreement, each county would be an equal partner and serve on the joint board of managers, and each partner on the board would be represented by three member representatives. It’s the same arrangement under the current agreement from 1968.
Lackawanna would continue to represented by the three commissioners, and Luzerne would continue to represented by the county manager and two council members. Each county currently has to agree for airport board approval of a motion or resolution to pass, and that would continue under the new agreement.
The new agreement also says each county “shall share equal responsibility for all costs and expenses associated with operating the Airport.”