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A day after announcing he is not seeking re-election, Luzerne County Councilman Stephen A. Urban reflected Wednesday on some of the highs and lows of his nearly two decades as an elected county official.
“We’ve had a lot of challenges,” said the 66-year-old retired Army lieutenant colonel, who has not ruled out running for council again in the future.
He is in his 20th year with the county, serving as a commissioner from 2000 through 2011 and then as a councilman since the county’s January 2012 switch to a customized home rule government structure.
While often known for his minority “no” votes, Urban said he has successfully pushed for and supported initiatives with lasting impact.
The 2009 countywide reassessment topped his list.
It needed to be done to correct widespread inaccuracies in real estate assessments that had occurred since the previous reassessment in 1965, he said. Because prior commissioners had ignored the need for the politically unpopular mass revaluation, many taxing bodies were legally unable to increase their tax millage rates to generate needed revenue, he said.
Urban credited prior commissioners Tom Makowski and later Maryanne Petrilla for sticking with him to complete the project.
“We had hundreds of people show up to challenge the reassessment, but we also received hundreds calling us to support it,” he said, noting the correction of inequities is a key reason the county now has an investment-grade credit rating.
Dark time
He said he will never forget learning about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks while he was meeting with school district officials who were urging him to pursue a reassessment.
Urban said his two fellow commissioners were tied up at the time, and he consulted with then-county Court of Common Pleas President Judge Joseph Augello on whether workers should be sent home. They were not.
“We didn’t want to cave to these terrorists. We wanted to keep everyone working,” Urban said.
A battle to correct oversight of the employee pension fund also was memorable, he said.
Teaming up with then-county treasurer Michael Morreale and then-controller Steve Flood on the county retirement board, Urban and the others revealed there had been no public voting and discussion about the status of the pension plan and selection of outside managers to handle investments, he said.
Urban also was the first county official to publicly challenge the county’s use of a Pittston Township juvenile detention center later linked to the “Kids for Cash” scandal, calling it a “sweetheart deal” when the proposal first landed on his desk in 2001.
”It’s a bad deal all around, and the taxpayers should not be forced to pay something as ridiculous as what is spelled out in this proposal,” he said at the time.
He later worked with Flood to investigate concerns related to the detention center that many say helped prompt a federal corruption probe.
‘Still be involved’
The Wyoming Valley Levee raising project came to fruition during Urban’s tenure, and he said supported that work and was actively involved for many years as chairman of the county Flood Protection Authority.
It passed the ultimate test, holding back floodwaters when the Susquehanna River rose to a record 42.66 feet from Tropical Storm Lee in September 2011.
“It saved the valley from devastation,” Urban said of the beefed-up flood control system.
Urban also encouraged the county’s purchase of thousands of acres of Theta Land Corp. property for millions of dollars around 2003 because the watershed land was environmentally significant and important to protect drinking water.
In response to pleas from area businesses, Urban joined commissioners in 2001 to approve a more than $3 million loan to the county Redevelopment Authority so it could purchase a 55-mile rail line, he said.
The authority had been in danger of defaulting on its mortgage and losing ownership of the track, which served about 25 businesses employing thousands, officials said at the time.
He also endorsed borrowing to help fund capital improvements at Luzerne County Community College.
“I still voted ‘no’ on quite a few bond issues because I didn’t believe it was the right thing to do,” he said.
During the remainder of his term, Urban said his goals include pushing the administration to increase health insurance contributions for non-union workers.
Largely at Urban’s urging, non-union employees have been paying 10 percent toward health insurance since 2004. Contributions have been phased into union contracts since then, with some now paying 12 and 15 percent.
Urban plans to remain outspoken after he leaves county government Jan. 6 and wants to focus more on examining a stormwater mandate that has impacted many property owners with new fees.
“I will still be involved,” he said. “I thank voters for electing me to five terms.”