In whirlwind rounds of voting, a Luzerne County Council majority appointed and reappointed 24 citizens to several outside boards and authorities Tuesday.

The council also tried out a new home charter amendment for the first time.

Approved by county voters in November, this amendment allows employees of companies with county contracts to serve on authorities at the council’s discretion following public disclosure and discussion. The change stemmed from complaints some qualified citizens were turned away from serving due to a charter ban.

However, the two citizens who fell into this category ultimately failed to receive majority council approval Tuesday — Deborah Scott for the Housing Authority and Robert Chepalonis for the Transportation Authority.

Scott works for an agency that has a county contract to provide employment to retired older citizens and currently is stationed part-time at the county clerk of courts office, said assistant county solicitor Shannon Crake, stressing Scott is not a county employee.

The vote on Scott’s appointment failed 4-5.

As a side note, Council members Jane Walsh Waitkus and Stephen A. Urban were unable to vote during Tuesday’s meeting because they tried to attend by phone and could not connect. The council meeting room phone is only set up to handle three council member call-ins, and all three lines were occupied Tuesday by Kathy Dobash, Eugene Kelleher and Eileen Sorokas.

While some council members said more phone lines should be accessible, Council Vice Chairman Tim McGinley said he believes a new policy is warranted limiting council members to phone attendance at two meetings annually, saying elected council members have a responsibility to be physically present at most meetings. Dobash also attended the last meeting in December by phone and several others last year.

Arguments were made for and against the appointment of Chepalonis, who has a home rule charter conflict due to his employment at the Martz Group bus company, which receives state funding that passes through the authority to provide free rides to senior citizens.

Councilman Edward Brominski urged his colleagues to reject the nominee, saying Chepalonis had served on the authority several years ago during a “ghost rider” scandal involving inflated bus ridership numbers that led to excessive state reimbursement.

“I don’t think we should go back,” Brominski said.

During the required public comment, transportation authority Executive Director Norm Gavlick said Chepalonis had nothing to do with the ridership controversy and was among the board members who helped to resolve it. Gavlick said there’s no conflict of interest and said many authority board members and staffers valued Chepalonis’ “wealth of experience” in transportation matters through his work as general manager at Martz.

Citizen Brian Shiner said “there’s no great conflict here” and said the council should “listen to the people” who granted the amendment.

Valerie Kepner received the most for support for reappointment to the transportation authority, and Charles Sciandra ended up nabbing a reappointment to the remaining vacant seat.

Five seats were vacant on the 11-member county Convention Center Authority, which oversees the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Township.

David Capin and Harold Bloss were reappointed, but David Palermo was not. Instead, a council majority picked Gary Zingaretti, John Ruckno and Michelle Reilly for the three remaining seats. Board members Jonathan Comitz and Angelo Answini did not seek reappointment.

A council majority also appointed former Wilkes-Barre Councilman George Brown to a seat on the 15-member Luzerne County Community College Board of Trustees instead of reappointing Susan Unvarsky.

The other seats filled Tuesday:

• Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council: Robert Nealon appointed and Stephen Broskoske, Beverly Johnston, Owen Lavery, Martin Meyer, Deborah Walsh and Joseph Yozviak reappointed.

• Drug and Alcohol Executive Commission: Peter Biscontini reappointed.

• Flood Protection Authority, which oversees the Wyoming Valley Levee: Douglas Ayers reappointed.

• Planning Commission: Nancy Eckert, Cinda Hartman, Christine McLaughlin and George Prehatin reappointed.

• Redevelopment Authority: John Pekarovsky appointed

• Convention and Visitors Bureau Board: William Conyngham appointed.

• Zoning Board: Dave Williams reappointed.

Councilman Robert Schnee also was appointed to a council seat on the Luzerne Conservation District.

At Councilman Rick Williams’ urging, the council introduced an ordinance that would put another charter amendment question on the May primary ballot. Williams wants to ask voters to allow council discretion for appointments to boards and commissions in addition to authorities.

While both questions were on the November ballot, the one involving boards and commissions failed to pass. Some council members speculated voters were confused. A public hearing and majority council support are required at a future meeting for the ordinance to pass.

In other business Tuesday, a council majority voted to approve a $45,000 payout to former 911 operator Don Wilkie to settle his 2014 federal lawsuit against the county over his termination.

Wilkie claimed he was terminated over his anxiety and diabetes diagnoses, but county officials argued the 2012 firing was due to a history of mistakes and noncompliance highlighted by a mishandled emergency call that led to a woman’s death. County officials said the settlement, which will be paid out of the general fund operating budget, is not an admission of wrongdoing.

Brominski
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_brominski.jpg.optimal.jpgBrominski

By Jennifer Learn-Andes

jandes@timesleader.com

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