Brace resigns from state position

By Sherry Long slong@timesleader.comStaff Writer

WILKES-BARRE – Former city and Luzerne County employee Bill Brace is now out of another government job.

Brace resigned Dec. 2 from his state-appointed job as a registrar with the Bureau of Vital Statistics, according to State Department of Health Deputy Press Secretary Holli Senior.

Brace, 65, submitted the letter dated Dec. 1; it was accepted by the state to be effective on Dec. 2, Senior said.

Funeral home directors throughout Luzerne County are now going to other registrars.

“At this time, the funeral directors are utilizing neighboring local registrars. I am told there are several others nearby within a few miles,” Senior said.

Brace agreed to plead guilty in November to a count of corrupt receipt of a reward for official action for accepting a $1,500 suit in exchange for supporting a contract when he served as Luzerne County’s deputy chief clerk.

He is not eligible for state retirement because he worked as a registrar on a contracted basis, meaning he was paid based on how many birth and death certificates he processed, Senior said.

He started the state post in August 2008. He was paid $3,219 from August 2008 through the end of December 2008, Senior said. His year-to-date pay for 2009 was not available.

Brace was employed by the county in two separate positions for seven years – deputy county clerk of courts from 2001 to 2005 and deputy chief clerk job from 2006 to 2008. Brace took an early retirement offered by the county in 2008, before getting the state appointment.

The county is now considering terminating his retirement pension. Brace receives $8,885.52 per year, according to records. A decision could be made at the Dec. 17 county Retirement Board meeting.

Brace worked for the Wilkes-Barre for 30 years before retiring in 2001 as city clerk/administrator. He gets an annual city pension of $42,000. City spokesperson Greg Barrouk said it’s unknown what, if anything, will happen with Brace’s pension because that decision rests with the city’s Pension Board.