Luzerne County Government

April 9, 2010

Stankovic says she was kept in dark on payments

Secret Service investigating payment of nearly $1 million to outside consultant.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter
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Luzerne County Register of Wills Dorothy Stankovic serves on the records improvement committee that oversaw expenses that are now under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service, but she says she was kept in the dark about how the money was being spent.

The Secret Service confirmed Wednesday it is “aggressively investigating” the county’s payment of nearly $1 million to an outside records consultant.

County Clerk of Courts Bob Reilly, who heads the records committee, has said he didn’t schedule committee meetings to discuss and vote on projects because of a lack of interest from other members.

Stankovic said Thursday Reilly’s claim is not accurate because she would have attended any scheduled meetings or sent her deputy if she wasn’t available. She said she had no idea how much had been spent and would have opposed many of the expenses if she had been given the opportunity to vote.

All three county commissioners are also supposed to sit on the committee by law, along with the sheriff, prothonotary and treasurer.

Minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said a committee meeting in January was the first he has been invited to attend in several years.

Committee meetings should have been regularly scheduled “just like any other county meetings,” he said. Urban said he believes the spending violated the law because the company that received the payments – Wayne, Pa.-based LRW Solutions Group – hired outside contractors without public bids. Both the records committee and commissioners should have publicly authorized those additional expenses, Urban said.

LRW, also known as Little Red Wagon, received at least $970,800 since 2005.

Invoices say the company was paid $734,810 for professional consulting services and $38,700 for mileage, tolls, meals and parking. About $50,000 was paid to a politically connected company to build security cages, shred records, paint and complete other work. Another $70,000 went to labor to move records, with workers including Reilly’s son. Another $42,000 was paid to a Wilkes-Barre business owned by a cousin of Reilly’s wife, according to another relative.

Reilly referred comment to his attorney, Mike Butera.

“Neither Bob Reilly nor I are aware of any investigation relating to LRW,” Butera said. “If in fact LRW is being investigating, it has nothing to do with Bob Reilly as far as we know.”

Butera said he and Reilly know of no investigation involving the Clerk of Court’s office or Reilly’s handling of the office.

Luzerne County’s spending of records improvement funds without meetings is not the norm, according to officials in several other counties.

Officials in seven other counties – Chester, Wyoming, Berks, Dauphin, Erie, Cumberland and Northampton – said their records committees approve every expense.

Berks County’s committee meets once a month, publicly advertising the meeting schedule at the beginning of the year. Committee members meet as needed in the other counties.

Erie County Deputy Prothonotary Ken Gamble, who sits on Erie’s records committee, said members discuss the status of ongoing projects and whether the group wants to proceed with new ones.

“We all get together and vote on them, determining how much we can appropriate and whether the proposal falls in the category of records improvement,” Gamble said.

Glenda Farner-Strasbaugh, Cumberland County’s register of wills and a committee member, said her committee adheres to a comprehensive records management plan and keeps minutes of all meetings. A committee quorum is required to authorize expenses, and all spending and receipts are audited by the controller’s office, she said.

Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffith, who took office in January, said he does not know of any past audits of the fund but said his office will complete one.

Wyoming County Register of Wills Dennis Montross, who is on his county’s records committee, said all committee members receive letters detailing requested expenses that pop up between meetings. Members must sign a form indicating whether they agree with that expense, and a meeting would be called if concerns are raised.

Northampton County Executive John Stoffa said his county’s committee hasn’t met recently because members agreed to allow the funds to build up to fund the possible construction of an archives building. The county has nearly $1 million in its account. State archives representatives are preparing an evaluation of Northampton’s records storage needs, he said.

Luzerne County’s payments to LRW have ceased because Griffith has refused to release any more checks, citing concerns with LRW’s contract and authorization.

Commissioners had originally voted in June 2005 to pay LRW up to $107,000, but payments ballooned. The commissioners extended the contract a year later, agreeing to continue paying $1,050 per day, plus expenses. However, the extension did not set a new cap or timeline on specific tasks that would be completed, and it was never signed to become official, Griffith said.

The Secret Service is working closely on the investigation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Federal Bureau of Investigation, a Secret Service official said Wednesday.

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