The DeNaples family is paying and handling arrangements for ongoing upgrades to the Fire Department garage, including replacing the floor and expanding the doors so the larger combination pumper/vehicle rescue/ladder truck can fit into the space, Councilman Salvatore Verrastro said.
Over the years, Dunmore businessman Louis DeNaples has been a regular donor to borough government.
Some examples include regular donations of equipment like police cars, fire trucks, dump trucks and garbage trucks; paying for some bigger-ticket items like construction of Dunmore’s $400,000 police station; and contributing significant sums of money toward operation of Dunmore Community Center.
Even after negotiating a new deal between Dunmore and the DeNaples family’s Keystone Sanitary Landfill that tripled host municipality fees for this year from the prior state-mandated minimum contribution, Mr. DeNaples said he still wants to help out his hometown, Mr. Verrastro said.
“He didn’t want anything to change, how he always donated,” the councilman said. “He called up and said ‘Do you need something?’ He happened to call on the day I was about to put this out to get prices on the doors. He said, ‘I’ll handle that project for you.’”
Mr. Verrastro, council’s liaison to the fire department, was unaware of the cost of the project. He said Mr. DeNaples was handling all of the arrangements.
Keystone consultant Albert Magnotta was also unaware of the project cost. He has been a spokesman for Keystone’s owners during the state’s review of the landfill’s controversial expansion proposal.
“I do know the family has made a lot of contributions to Dunmore and Throop, most of which have not been publicized. That’s not their modus operandi,” Mr. Magnotta said. “I don’t see any reason why that won’t continue in the future.”
Contact the writer: [email protected], @kwindTT on Twitter
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