Lucerne County Council votes for union contract and multiple board appointments

Under the agenda, in addition to considering funding for the American Rescue Plan, Lucerne County Council will vote Tuesday on a new union contract and fill more than 50 volunteer seats on external governments, boards and commissions.

The union contract is with assistant district attorneys/public defenders who are currently on a contract that expired at the end of 2022.

Represented by the local union of drivers No. 401, the union approved the district’s proposal. Board members are expected to be further briefed on the final proposal during a closed-door executive meeting prior to Tuesday’s meeting.

The resolution, published alongside the agenda on Tuesday, says the new contract will run from January 1 this year to December 31, 2026. Other details are not disclosed.

In the past, the county administration presented a summary of the proposed contract during a public meeting prior to a council vote.

County District Attorney Sam Sangedolce and Chief Public Defender Steven Greenwald stressed the need to address compensation for lawyers in their offices to help with recruitment and retention. They also said they want to avoid a situation where the contract goes to binding arbitration.

In December, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation sent an email to county councilors expressing “serious concern about the continued deterioration of pro-poor services” in the county.

The District Court Division is looking for two outside attorneys for $7,000 a month to temporarily defend low-income criminal cases while the public defender’s office is understaffed. The announcement was posted in the Human Resources section of the Civil Court on luzernecounty.org.

Appointments to the Council

The Board needs to fill many vacancies on the Board of Directors, mainly due to the fact that the term expired at the end of 2022. Citizen candidates must pass public interviews to be eligible for appointment.

In some cases, there are not enough candidates to fill all the vacancies. Some citizens have also expressed interest in multiple boards in case the one they want the most doesn’t have vacancies.

Here is a list of county councils with vacancies, the number of open places in brackets, and who is currently on the list of candidates for a possible appointment on Tuesday, according to county records:

• Convention Center Authority, which oversees the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre (3) – Lynn Bartz, Donna Kupinski, Dino Galella, Joseph Long, Pat Patte and John Wilkes.

• The Flood Protection Authority, which oversees the Wyoming Valley Dam System (1) – James Delaney and Andrew Partash.

• Housing Authority (2) – Vincent Fayoc, Robert Vagno and Rose Yarmel.

• Office of Reconstruction (1) – Rick Williams

• Department of Transportation (1) – Lynn Bartz, Michael Cefalo and David Tosh

• Lucerne Reserve (2) – Leonard Burger and John Wilkes

• Arts Advisory Council (2) – Donald Armstrong and Colleen Logan.

• Children and Youth Advisory Board (15 members) – Robert Childs, Amy Lowell-Hart and Tyler Myers.

• Community College Board of Trustees (1) – George Brown, William Lewis and Marie Rock-Thomas

• Board of the Conference and Visitors Bureau (4) – Brian Fisher, Carla Taller and Michael Ward.

• Farmland Conservation Council (2) – Master Blaxley and possibly Brian McManus, who is scheduled to be interviewed Tuesday afternoon at a special committee meeting of authorities/councils/council commissions to be held at 4:30 pm at the District Courthouse on River Street. at Wilkes-Barre.

• Forty-Fort Airport Advisory Board (6) – Michael Berish and David Siminsky.

• Planning Committee (5 people) – Karen Fleischer, Amy Lowell-Hart, Gary Schwartz and possibly William Kane and Salvatore Marsico. The latter two are to be interviewed at a committee meeting on Tuesday.

• Zoning Hearing Board (1) – Tyler Myers and Dave Williams

• Workforce Investment Council (2) – Michel Mikitisch and William Shabener

• Regional Aging Agency Advisory Board (3) – Mildred Passeri, Amy Lowell-Hart, Deborah Walsh and Joseph Jozwiak.

• Executive Board on Drugs and Alcohol (1 student seat) – Tyler Myers

• Mental Health and Development Services Program Advisory Board (2) Raelyn Daring and Melisa Littleton.

American rescue

The Board is expected to discuss the federal American Rescue Plan awards in a business meeting on Tuesday, rather than make a decision in a ballot meeting, board vice chairman John Lombardo said Monday.

The decision to award $60 million to the 75 top-scoring third parties was originally scheduled for a vote.

However, Lombardo said he believes most, if not all, of the 11 council members want more time to discuss options.

Council member Tim McGinley said Monday that he and other colleagues are looking into the overall process and “hope we can come up with a better distribution plan.”

Council members individually assessed all 139 applicants through an online portal after agreeing not to cooperate with each other. After the names of the organizations that made the cuts were made public last week, some board members questioned the results.

Tuesday’s meeting begins at 6:00 pm at the River Street County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for remote participation can be found at the link to the online board meeting at luzernecounty.org.

Contact Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or tweet @TLJenLearnAndes.