Luzerne County Courthouse file photo
The seven resident voters selected to study Luzerne County's government structure are scheduled to take the oath of office and meet for the first time Monday night.
The swearing-in of members of the new government review board will take place at 6 p.m. in the county courthouse rotunda on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, according to an online post.
An organizational meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers.
The meeting portion will be held both in-person and virtually. Instructions for remote attendance options will be posted under the public online meeting link at luzernecounty.org.
Voters in the April 23 county primary election selected the following candidates to serve on the commission: Mr. Vito Malacari, Hanover Township; Cindy Marchems, Dallas Township; Timothy McGinley, Kingston. Matt Mitchell, Plains Township; Ted Lissick, Forty Ft. Mark Shaffer, Wilkes-Barre; and Stephen J. Urban, Kingston.
McGinley, Mitchell and Urban previously served on the county council.
According to the primary election count, 31,968 voters supported the establishment of an investigative committee, while 15,009 opposed it.
According to the “Pennsylvania Home Rule” handbook compiled by the Governor of Pennsylvania, in addition to electing officers at the first organizational meeting, the committee must also establish general rules of procedure, a plan to keep an official record of the meeting, and We need to agree on a schedule. Local government service center.
“Regular communication of the date, time and location of committee meetings is important to encourage public attendance,” the commission said.
The committee will have nine months to report its findings and recommendations, and a further nine months if it chooses to prepare and submit changes for the government. If the committee recommends electing the council by district rather than at large, an additional two months is allowed.
Voters must finally approve the commission's recommendations before they can go into effect.
All seven members elected to the commission said they were not advocating a return to the previous three-member/executive structure replaced by the 2012 autonomy initiative.
The county's last 11 residents held weekly meetings from June to December 2009, broadcast online, and decided to take the next step and draft a proposed charter. did. The final report and recommended charter were released in August 2010 and approved by voters in the November 2010 general election.
The commission hired an attorney and assisted the Pennsylvania Economic Federation as a consultant.
The study committee's efforts have been “substantial,” the handbook said, noting that past committees have averaged about 50 meetings, with some as many as 100.
A majority of the County Council approved the commission's ballot question in October, but several council members said they did not have the authority to make any significant changes because the commission is required by law. .
Council President John Lombardo formally read out the names of the new members at last week's council meeting.
Congress is expected to approve appropriations for the commission to carry out its duties.
Councilor Harry Haas said Council Clerk Sharon Lawrence was too busy to take on the additional role of assisting the committee.
Mr. Lombardo said Mr. Lawrence could assist the organization and said he expected the committee to study options for taking minutes and performing other secretarial duties in the future.
Committee members have cited a variety of issues they would like to consider, including charter provisions that may conflict with overriding state law.
