Luzerne County Courthouse

Luzerne County Courthouse

Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

Luzerne County Council members will be physically seated together Tuesday in the courthouse council meeting room for the first time since March 2020.

Tuesday’s meeting will be “hybrid,” which means county residents have a choice of attending in person or watching the meeting through the online Zoom platform.

Council had voted to keep the online option because it is now familiar to residents due to the coronavirus pandemic and allows citizens throughout the large county to participate without having to travel to the courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.

Council Chairman Tim McGinley said a viewing monitor and extra seating have been set up in the foyer outside the council meeting room because fewer people will be permitted inside the meeting room than in the past. As elsewhere, unvaccinated meeting attendees are expected to wear masks, but it is based on the honor system because there’s no vaccination verification procedure.

The voting meeting and work session start at 6 p.m.

A link to attend remotely is posted on council’s public meetings online section at luzernecounty.org.

Voting agenda

Matters up for a council vote Tuesday include:

• Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company LLC’s proposed one-time $4,000 payment to the county for right-of-way access on a county-owned parcel in Dallas Township for the Williams Pipeline expansion through parts of the area.

• County matches to the entities that provide public transportation in the county. These local matches — $717,075 for the county Transportation Authority and $189,038 for Hazleton Public Transit — are needed to obtain state funding.

• Authorization to sign an engagement letter with the Stevens & Lee law firm to pursue legal action over the county Election Board’s decision to place the county district attorney’s race on the November ballot based on interpretation of new legislation.

Councilman Walter Griffith also has proposed introduction of an ordinance asking November general election voters to decide if they want to form a new elected Government Study Commission. Study commissions independently decide if they want to keep and change the government structure. A change would have to be approved by future voters to take effect, which is what occurred before the county’s January 2012 switch to a customized home rule structure.

Work session

During the work session that follows Tuesday’s voting meeting, Baker Tilly will discuss the county’s new audit, which concluded the county ended 2020 with a $3.7 million surplus, county Budget/Finance Division Head Brian Swetz has said.

Also up for discussion is Hazleton’s request for county tax considerations in the city’s creation of a land bank. Authorized by 2012 state legislation, land banks take possession of rundown parcels and attempt to get them back into productive hands. The city is asking the county to forgive current and delinquent county real estate taxes on any property acquired and maintained by the city land bank and give the city taxes paid for five years on any property transferred through the land bank process.

Wednesday meeting

The five-citizen, volunteer county Election Board will meet virtually at 5 p.m.

Board Chairwoman Denise Williams said the board plans to start resuming in-person meetings but held off to ensure no issues surface in county council’s first hybrid meeting the night before.

Instructions on attending the board meeting are posted under the election board section at luzernecounty.org.

Thursday meeting

Council’s Authorities, Boards and Commissions Committee will hold a virtual meeting and interview session at 6 p.m.

This committee screens citizen applicants for outside boards that are filled by council.

Directions to attend are posted under council’s public meetings online section at luzernecounty.org.

Manager search

Wednesday is the application deadline for citizens interested in serving on the volunteer committee that seeks and screens manager applicants and recommends qualified finalists to council.

The advertisement is posted on council’s section at luzernecounty.org.

Ten citizens already publicly interviewed will remain under consideration and do not have to reapply. Council members will publicly interview any additional applicants July 20 and hold a special meeting July 22 to vote on the number of committee members and choose appointees.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.