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By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES jandes@leader.net
Wednesday, March 05, 2003 Page: 3A
The Luzerne County Retirement Board majority says it wants the chance to
argue in a courtroom why majority commissioners Tom Makowski and Tom Pizano
shouldn’t be allowed to hire a special lawyer with county tax dollars.
Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Michael Conahan has
denied the majority’s request for an oral voice, prompting the Retirement
Board to vote Tuesday to appeal to Commonwealth Court.
“The Retirement Board was never given the opportunity to be heard,”
Retirement Board Solicitor Christopher Cullen said at Tuesday’s meeting of the
board. “(All) we asked for from day one is our opportunity for due process.”
Cullen learned Tuesday in an article published in the Citizens’ Voice that
Conahan had denied his court motion seeking input.
Wondering why he wasn’t notified, Cullen left the meeting to get a copy of
the denial, but there was none on file in the prothonotary’s office.
A staff member walked up to Conahan’s chambers for a copy. It’s not clear
why Conahan didn’t file the denial in the prothonotary’s office. Cullen asked
the document be recorded and time stamped to make it part of the official
record.
Retirement Board member Stephen A. Urban said board members have a right to
voice their arguments because Makowski and Pizano sought and won a court order
from Conahan to hire Scranton attorney Chris Jones on Feb. 3 – without advance
notice or public discussion.
The hiring occurred at the Feb. 5 commissioner meeting.
Makowski and Pizano haven’t been specific about why they hired Jones, other
than saying it has to do with “disputes” over the present management of the
county pension fund.
Makowski and Pizano have the right to hire special counsel because
commissioners must use public money to shore up the fund if it runs into
problems, County Solicitor Jim Blaum has said.
Cullen disagrees, saying the state County Code allows commissioners to
obtain court orders to hire special counsel “to take up the legal affairs of
the county.” He said that’s an “extraordinarily important phrase” because
the pension fund is under the legal control of the county Retirement Board –
not the Board of Commissioners.
All three commissioners have a say as voting members of the Retirement
Board.
Three members of the five-person Retirement Board members voted to appeal:
Urban, a minority commissioner; Controller Steve Flood and Treasurer Mike
Morreale.
Pizano didn’t attend Tuesday’s meeting, and Makowski attended but left
before Cullen presented his report and asked for the vote.
Cullen said his appeal should be filed today in Commonwealth Court.
Flood said he doesn’t plan to pay any bills for Jones, who was hired at a
$10,000 retainer fee.
In other business, Flood said he is preparing a newsletter with facts about
the pension fund that will be sent to all retirees.
Pension fund advisor Merrill Lynch reported Tuesday that the fund’s market
value as of Feb. 28 was $141.1 million. The value was $142.2 million as of
Feb. 1.
The year-to-date return for all fund managers was -1.10 percent.
Merrill Lynch spokesman Ray Crisci said his management team will publicly
present a detailed quarterly performance report at the end of March.
Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at
831-7333.