Mosca

Mosca

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<p>Sanguedolce</p>

Sanguedolce

Desperate to attract required outside attorneys, Luzerne County’s ethics commission has increased the compensation.

There is urgency in filling the posts because at least three complaints that were submitted to the commission cannot be opened until independent contracted attorneys are hired and assigned those cases, commission members said.

Under the council-adopted ethics code, the commission must appoint a panel of three attorneys who are not employed by the county to handle the initial stage of complaint investigations. These attorneys must be selected through a public request for proposals and appointed on a rotating basis as complaints are lodged, the code says.

Two of the three outside attorney slots had been filled after a similar recruitment problem in 2017, but both have left.

The old pay rate for each attorney was $140 per hour for up to $21,000 per year.

At a recent special meeting, the four commission members in attendance agreed to raise the compensation to $225 per hour with a cap of $25,000.

Supporting the higher pay were citizen board members Diane Dreier and Thomas Mosca, county Controller Walter Griffith and county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce.

The commission initially discussed a more modest pay bump but worried it would not attract applicants.

“It’s been an ongoing thing that there have been no responses to the RFP. We have cases waiting,” Dreier said.

Mosca, the commission chairman, said the going rate for experienced attorneys would be higher than $225 per hour, but he is hopeful some lawyers will view the role as an add-on to their practices and “quasi public service.”

Griffith acknowledged the need for reasonable compensation to stay competitive, saying he recently sought proposals for a part-time solicitor in his office and received only one response at $250 per hour.

Information on the ethics attorney post is available in the purchasing department section at luzernecounty.org, according to a solicitation released Tuesday.

Responses are due at 4 p.m. May 31, it said.

The request seeks a contractual commitment of one year, with three one-year renewal options.

Applicants must investigate claims, prepare cases and make recommendations to the commission. Meetings with county employees and witnesses at county offices may be necessary, it said.

The commission’s next scheduled meeting is June 10, but members said they may call a special session before then to hire the three attorneys if they receive a sufficient response.

Mosca said he would like to get attorneys on board as soon as possible to address the pending complaints. A lawyer himself, Mosca and the other commission members are not paid to serve. He urged fellow attorneys to consider the contracted posts as “part public service.”

“We need to have people in there who can help the commission and help process these complaints,” Mosca said Tuesday.

Council’s ethics code requires the contracted attorneys to determine within 60 days whether an investigation should be terminated, further investigated or result in the issuing of a formal complaint spelling out alleged code violations.

If a formal complaint is issued, the respondent has 30 days to admit or deny the allegations.

Matters proceed to a hearing when no agreement is reached or when the respondent requests one.

Once the commission issues a final written decision, the respondent has the right to appeal the decision to the county Court of Common Pleas within 30 days.

The code applies to all county government employees and elected officials, including members and employees of county boards, authorities and commissions.

Council added the provision requiring outside attorneys in 2014 after critics questioned the legality of the code that had been adopted by council shortly after the January 2012 switch to home rule. The original version had commission members handling both investigations and rulings on alleged violations.

Some council members have criticized the use of outside attorneys and other aspects of the code, but council’s code review committee has not proposed a different system in recent years. Councilman Stephen J. Urban currently chairs the code review committee.

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