Lucerne County Hires New Chief of Corrections

James Wilbur was hired Tuesday as the new Chief of Corrections for Lucerne County.

Six of the 10 board members present Tuesday voted to confirm Wilbur’s appointment as Acting County Manager Brian Swetz for an $87,000 annual position: John Lombardo, Carl Bienias III, Kevin Lescavage, Brian Thornton, Gregory S. Volovich Jr. and Chris Perry.

Council members Tim McGinley, Stephen J. Urban, LeAnn McDermott and Matthew Mitchell voted against.

Council President Kendra Radle was absent on Tuesday.

McGinley and Urban unsuccessfully tried to take the vote off the agenda and then put it on the table, but neither of their colleagues supported these moves.

Both expressed concerns about the selection process, with McGinley noting that he had no doubts about Wilbur’s abilities.

Telling Wilbur that her vote wasn’t personal, McDermott said she couldn’t support confirmation because board members can’t see all summaries and applications.

Mitchell said he shared their opinion.

Thornton said he and his colleagues had ample opportunity to test Wilbur. He said he received Wilbur’s resume a few days ago and took advantage of an invitation to question Wilbur personally about his experience and current problems that might exist in prison.

The board also met with Wilbur in a closed executive meeting ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.

While the District Manager recommends candidates for the eight department head positions under the self-government charter, council approval is required for these hires.

According to background information released by the county, Wilbur has served as a county corrections captain since November 2020, overseeing 75 lieutenants, sergeants, corporals and corrections officers.

The position was an upgrade from his previous lieutenant position, which he began in September 2017.

Wilbur’s last job before joining county government was as corporate chaplain for No Limit Ministries in Wilkes-Barre, which he began in March 2004. consulting and care in the corporate environment for all concerned employees. It states that his client was Mohegan Sun from Pocono’s racing division.

In applying for the position of unit chief, Wilbur said he wants to apply his 12 years of experience as a military police officer in the US Army and more than 21 years of experience in the field of corrections, including in the field of security and treatment.

A 1988 graduate of North Salem High School in Oregon, Wilbur earned a master’s degree in ministry from IMI Bible College and Seminary in California and a doctorate in ministry from Vision University, also in California.

The position was opened because Mark Rocovich retired late last year after nearly 32 years in the county prison system.

Manager’s report

In the annual “state of the county” report required by the local government, Svets received applause for announcing that credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s had decided to upgrade the county’s rating by one notch from A- to A.

Svets also called employee training a vital necessity and said he was trying to be “calm and resilient” amid uncertainty over a new search for a permanent manager and the upcoming election for six board seats.

He called for a team approach to the common goal of improving the county, rather than “one side against the other.”

“We are all one county,” Schwetz said, noting that the right ideas can come from anyone and that no one person will have all the solutions.

His 32-page presentation is posted alongside the council’s agenda on luzernecounty.org.

Lombardo, who is vice chairman, said the council “sees a light at the end of the tunnel,” noting that the county is “sort of a growth epicenter” in northeast Pennsylvania, as evidenced by its growing tax base.

Thornton thanked Svetz for taking over as acting manager in November.

“This is bear work. Thanks for the encouragement,” he said.

McGinley agreed that the credit score was good news, but said the former council members also deserve credit for handling financial problems at the start of the Home Rule transition in January 2012, when the county had no credit score.

“To get all the way to where we are today is an amazing feat,” said McGinley.

American rescue

The Board also continued discussions on a plan to allocate $60 million in American Rescue Plan federal awards to third parties, but no consensus was reached.

After discussing various options, the board members agreed to hold a special workshop at 5:00 pm on March 7 to determine how they wanted to proceed.

McGinley said board members should submit any ideas ahead of time because waiting to discuss them at the March 7 meeting would cause further delays.

Mitchell proposed a new approach that would limit category allocations and allow 121 organizations to receive funding instead of 75.

The previous plan fully funded $60 million for projects that received the highest scores in council assessments conducted individually through an online portal created by county consultant Booth Management Consulting.

After a final list of 75 projects with the highest scores was compiled, the board members realized that five applications were missing from the consultant’s evaluation portal, which should have been evaluated ex post. Board members also raised concerns about the dollar amounts of some of the awards and said that several top-scoring applicants have contacted them to say they can still complete meaningful projects – or milestones of projects – with lower awards to free up funds for more recipients.

Mitchell said the plan would allow 84% of projects to be fully funded while staying within the $60 million target set by the board. A smaller percentage of organizations that do not receive their full request will be asked to submit revised budgets and project summaries, he said.

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