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WILKES-BARRE — The low turnout from the public was a good sign for Mayor Tony George.
He estimated between 40 and 50 people participated in his first City Hall for a Day that ran from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. He relocated his staff and departments to the Hollenback Fire Station and set up tables in the garage bays usually occupied by an engine and ambulance. The mayor plans to hold identical programs throughout the city.
“I’m happy,” George said Wednesday afternoon with an hour to go. Not that many showed up because “there’s not that many problems,” he said.
“Most of the complaints we got were legitimate complaints,” George said.
What he and his staff heard from residents mainly from the Parsons and Miners Mills neighborhoods was about the Mill Creek flood protection project, the roads and abandoned houses.
Mary Ellen Yelland of Parsons almost missed the event and said she heard about it by word of mouth.
“I didn’t know they had anything going on like this,” Yelland said.
She took advantage of the free shingles vaccine offered to eligible residents 50 and older by the city’s Health Department.
Henry Radulski, the city’s director of health, provided vaccine injections to 55 people.
“The response has been very good,” Radulski said.
The city obtains the vaccine from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and offers it to residents.
“It doesn’t cost anything,” he said, adding the vaccine is expensive outside of programs like the ones held by the city. He estimated it costs $250 for someone without health insurance and about half that as a co-payment for someone with insurance.
The city will make the vaccine available to the public, offering it for free to eligible people 50 and older. The vaccine will be administered from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on May 20 at the Kirby Health Center, 70 N. Franklin St.
