Urban: Conahan exceeded power

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.comLuzerne County Reporter

Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge had no authority to sign a secret agreement to rent the Pittston Township juvenile detention center in January 2002, county minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said Tuesday.

Conahan’s alleged signing of the agreement was revealed for the first time Monday in a federal complaint against Conahan and Judge Mark Ciavarella over alleged kickbacks the two judges received in exchange for supporting county usage of the detention center.

The complaint said Conahan, while serving as president judge, signed a “placement guarantee agreement” between the court and center owner PA Child Care. The agreement outlined in the court document said the court would pay PA Child Care $1.314 million a year in rent and that these payments “shall be absolute and unconditional.”

It’s not clear if the intended use of the facility was for treatment or pre-adjudication detention, but there’s a problem either way, Urban said.

Commissioners decide where juveniles are housed for detention, and commissioners at the time were planning to keep using the county-owned River Street center for detention while exploring possible construction of a new county facility, Urban said.

Judges have authority to decide where juveniles are sent for treatment, but payment is based on usage, not a flat annual rent, Urban said. Contracts with treatment facilities are also supposed to go before county commissioners for approval, and the alleged secret agreement did not, Urban said.

County officials do not believe any rent was paid as a result of the alleged secret agreement.

Urban and then-Commissioner Tom Makowski voted in January 2003 to borrow money to build a new juvenile detention center.

The Pittston Township center didn’t open until February 2003 – a year after Conahan allegedly entered into the secret agreement.

Commissioners agreed in February 2003 to allow juveniles to be housed at the Pittston Township center based on a daily usage rate – not a flat annual rent -- but only for up to two years while the county built its own detention center.

Commissioners were up against a wall at the time because Conahan announced in October 2002 that judges will no longer send youth to the county’s River Street center. Conahan and Ciavarella publicly maintained the county center was deplorable, even though the state Department of Public Welfare deemed it “safe and satisfactory” to house juveniles. The state Labor and Industry Department and Wilkes-Barre Health Department also determined the building met standards.

Conahan also stripped funding for 16 probation staffers who manned the River Street center from his 2003 budget and returned the center’s license to the state, essentially shutting down the facility.

Urban said he wonders how federal investigators obtained knowledge of Conahan’s alleged secret agreement.

“I never heard anything about that before. Who gave them that?” Urban said.

Tom Pizano, who was also a commissioner at that time, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Makowski declined comment.

Makowski did not support renting or buying the Pittston Township center, saying both options were more costly than building a new county facility.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.