Great Northeast Job Fair

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HZ_STANDSPEAK/PAGES [B01] | 05/22/13

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Thursday, May 23, 2013

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AZLETON 4 Vendors, prospective workers visit job expo LIVEAT

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Anthony Cariot West Hazleton

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Great Northeast Job Fair in McAdoo draws 54 vendors in second year By JIM DINO StaffWriter

Dave Fidler can’t understand why the unemployment rate is so high. The recruiter for the Lehigh Carbon Technical Institute (LCTI) in Schnecksville, Lehigh County, said he has contractors banging his door down for his students trained to run heavy construction equipment. When he saw cars parked up and down the entrance road to the McAdoo Industrial Park where Capriotti’s Palazzo is located, he must have thought he had a good chance to find some students at the Second Annual Great Northeast Job Fair held Wednesday. John Patton, general manager of the Standard-Speaker, said the response from employers was greater than it was for the first job fair sponsored by the TimesShamrock Communications’ newspapers Standard-Speaker and Pottsville Republican-Herald. “We have 54 vendors, the same number as last year. We are sold out,” Patton said. “But this year,

we had a waiting list of vendors.” Paul Ross, the Standard-Speaker’s advertising director, believes he knows why there was such a response. “All the vendors recognize the importance of reaching the greater Hazleton market.” Ross said. Fidler said LCTI provides training for some of the companies who were at the fair. “We are here today to provide training for those who want to move on to some of these vendors for jobs,” Fidler said. “It’s a little crazy out there right now. We have a lot of opportunities here in different careers that we do training in that we can’t fill the jobs of contractors looking for these people. Yesterday, I was contacted by three contractors looking for people. I called my former students dating back to November, and they are all working. There are some great career opportunities here.” Fidler said LCTI trains people how to operate heavy equipment, and trains for the commercial drivers’ license (CDL) needed to drive the big equipment. “Most of the contractors in this

ERIC CONOVER/Staff Photographer

People seeking a job check out the business booths at the Great Northeast 2013 Job Fair held Wednesday at Capriotti’s Palazzo in McAdoo. area are looking for people, but they need the formalized training,” Fidler said. “Not everybody needs a college degree. They might need some technical training.” Kathleen Natale of Hazleton, who graduated with a degree in graphic design from Kutztown University, was there just trying to find something she could live on, for now. “I’m trying to get a job in an office that is more stable than the part-time jobs I’ve had,” she said. Joe Liberto of Wilkes-Barre came to the fair looking for some-

thing in electronics. “I’ve been trained in the Pennsylvania National Guard and I am furthering my training at ITT Tech,” Liberto said. “I came here to see what jobs are available.” Brian Hannaway, 42, of Pottsville, was looking for a new manufacturing job. “The job market has been so hard,” he said. “I held a position for 13 years before they downsized. I’m looking for a job I can retire from and have health benefits.” Some vendors returned from last year. One was Miners Bank. “The location is excellent,” said

Jennifer Reiner, vice-president of human resources for Miners Bank. “Events like this makes it really easy for us to get in front of a lot of people. Normally, you don’t get to meet the people face to face. Coming to an event like this, you can see them, talk to them, you can interact with them. You also get to talk to other businesses to find out what the staffing challenges are.” There were a lot of first-time companies there. Jessica Mitchell of Around the Clock Nursing, a health care firm based in the Lehigh Valley, was at the fair looking for help to expand into this area. Jeld-Wen, a manufacturer of garage doors, windows and interior and exterior doors that employs 450 in the Highridge Business Park, Schuylkill County, was there looking for production supervisors, industrial maintenance technicians, industrial paint sprayer. “We thought it would be a good time to get our name out there,” said Jennifer Rarig, human resources specialist. “We are seeing an increase in business, and we wanted to see what was out there as far as candidates for positions.” jdino@standardspeaker.com

Council wants ordinance set before buying software ■ Hazleton City Council cast a 5-0 vote to table a software licensing agreement, with members claiming they wanted a stormwater fee set before purchasing the software. By SAM GALSKI StaffWriter

Hazleton City Council shelved a three-year software licensing agreement that would cost the city more than $84,000 for software for calculating a maintenance fee for the city’s stormwater collection system. The development left acting City Administrator Steve Hahn wondering late Wednesday how the city will assess the fee, which accounts for $500,000 worth of revenue in a budget that was adopted by the same council members who tabled the software purchase. Council cast a 5-0 vote to table the software licensing agreement with Environmental Systems Research Institute, which would cost the city $25,000 for an annual licensing agreement fee and another $3,185 for a cor-

I-81 ramps temporarily closed Wed. Both the northbound and southbound ramps from Route 309 to Interstate 81 in Kline Township were closed Wednesday morning due to an oversized load that got stuck and needed to be removed, the state Department of Transportation said. The oversized load attempted to pass through a work zone but was too large, according to PennDOT. The ramps, for Exit 138 at McAdoo, were expected to reopen by noon, the department said.

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responding training package. The agreement would cost the city $84,555 over three years. “I don’t know how this can be done,” Hahn said following the vote. “There has to be a systematic way to assess this fee. By ordinance, we would set up a credit situation and set up an appeals process similar to the county assessment appeals.” The administration wants the geographic information systems (GIS) software for calculating a proposed stormwater fee. Though rates have not been determined at this point, Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi recently said officials were considering dividing the city into zones and assessing the fee based on the amount of porous surfaces in each zone. Council members, however, don’t share Hahn’s enthusiasm for the software purchase. Councilman Jack Mundie asked why the administration would ask council to approve the software agreement without first approving an ordinance that establishes the stormwater fee. Council

President James Perry agreed with Mundie. “We have to wait for an ordinance,” Perry said. Councilwoman Jean Mope asked whether the city’s computer system could accommodate the software. Mope and council Vice President Keith Bast said they disagree with buying software that the city did not budget for. “It’s a high price for a city right now that doesn’t have the revenue,” Mope said. Mundie asked Hahn whether he checked if either Hazleton City Authority or Luzerne County has similar software that the city can use. Audience member Dee Deakos also questioned the proposed purchase at Wednesday’s meeting. Deakos asked why the city couldn’t use maps that Luzerne County generated with the same software. “Why don’t we get maps from the county rather than paying for the same service,” Deakos asked. Dan Staruch, who Hahn said would work as an intern and use the software to generate maps, told council Wednesday that the city can obtain mapping data

from the county but would have to buy data rights as it changes each year. “If there’s construction or new development, you’d have to buy rights to the new data,” Staruch said. Hazleton City Authority board Chairman John Keegan said that while the authority board has looked into a GIS program, it hasn’t moved forward with a purchase and has nothing available for the city at this point. “It’s something we want to look into and a topic we discussed but we have nothing currently in play or on the books for GIS,” Keegan said. Hahn said the city could develop overlays for a base map that could be used to identify properties that have quality of life violations or code deficiencies. Other layovers could identify which of the buildings in Hazleton are rental properties or could flag households that haven’t paid per capita

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or earned income taxes or other fees. “You can look at lists, but this is a way to visually see a lot of things,” Hahn said. The system is Internet-

based and could be easily accessed by city employees who have iPads or Smartphones, Hahn said. sgalski@standardspeaker.com

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