Click here to subscribe today or Login.
HAZLETON — In response to the city’s hiring of Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi’s nephew Kyle Overton, city council member and mayoral candidate, Jack Mundie said simply, “he can’t do that.”
“Its against the state and local law,” Mundie said in a phone interview on Monday. “A city ordinance makes it illegal.”
Mundie cited the city’s personnel policy, adopted by ordinance in 1995, which “precludes the hiring of relatives of any employee of any elected or appointed official.”
Included in that ordinance’s definition of relative is “nephew.”
Mundie also referred to state ethical guidelines, which he said prohibit contracting with family members.
The Pennsylvania Public Official and Employee Act states “restrictions for contracting are set forth in Section 1103(f) … which prohibits a public official/public employee from entering into a contract valued at $500 or more with the governmental body of the public official/employee unless the contract has been awarded through an open and public process …”
“I believe that should Overton retain his position, someone would bring this to the attention of the state,” said Mundie.
In contrast to Mundie’s statement, Yannuzzi said Overton was not being hired but simply transferred from part-time to full-time status.
Yannuzzi asserts that Overton was originally hired during Lou Barletta’s administration without Yannuzzi’s knowledge.
“I was a council member,” said Yannuzzi, “but I didn’t have any input into that decision.
In another matter, the council is also considering making a recommendation to Luzerne County Court in regard to a council vacancy.
According to Mundie, although at its most recent meeting, council did vote to petition county court to fill a council vacancy created when Keith Bast resigned in early September, that paperwork had not yet been transmitted to the court because of a 30-day waiting period.
An email, released to the Times Leader by council member and mayoral candidate Jeff Cusat, contained a draft letter that asked the court to take into consideration the attendance at council meetings of candidates Ted Sherrock, Dee Deakos and Norman Tarantino. The letter had been forwarded to council members.
“I’m not understanding why, if these were the three candidates favored by council, that we didn’t simply review their resumes,” said Cusat. “This is our responsibility that we simply transferred to the court.”
As for Mundie, he said the letter would be reviewed by city solicitor Bob Cohen before being finalized and sent to the court.
