Monroe County stands to save about $16,000 in new plans involving Bridge No. 12 on Metzgar Road in Hamilton Township.

At the Monroe County commissioners meeting on July 1, the commissioners approved a change order with Verdantas for $34,300 for Bridge No. 12 due to utility easement changes made by Met-Ed.

Prompted by questions from a resident for more information. Commissioner John Christy explained that Bridge No. 12 is going to be replaced with a new bridge and will continue to be a two-lane bridge.

“What that is, is a change in the agreement that we have with Met Ed,” Christy said.

Chief Clerk Robert Gress added, “The Met-Ed agreement we had was $50,000, and then the plans were already done; the specs are already done. Met-Ed changed their plan, so our architect engineer had to redo the plans, so we can bid it. So the net savings is actually going to be around $16,000.”

Gress said, “(Met-Ed) moved the power lines to the other side of the road.” Due to the new plans, the power company is not going to move more power lines, which means the county saves money now that they don’t have to pay Met-Ed to move additional power lines.

The construction on the bridge will not take place until next year, Gress said.

The commissioners also approved a change order with W.H. Lane Inc. in the amount of $177,221 for courthouse construction project completion.

And they approved a Cooperation and Funding Procedures Agreement for the Great Wolf Lodge for the Poconos Densification Project for the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. The amount of the grant is $2.5 million.

Christy said, “This is funding that (Monroe County) received for a pass through for the state for a RACP (Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program) grant that is being put in place by the (Monroe County) Industrial Development Authority. And this is for the work that they did recently on their expansion of Great Wolf and it’s a state project.

Christy explained that the funding is coming from the state, and the county is acting as a pass through for the funding.

A resident asked why the state is giving funding to a business that already has a high profit.

Christy said, “What the state does is try to maximize growth of an industry that is key to Monroe County.”

The hospitality business is very important to Monroe County, “so the state feels that it was worthy of that investment.”