Two proposed Luzerne County home rule charter amendment ballot questions have been submitted to the county’s law office for legal review, council members said.
The law office had set a May 1 deadline for council ballot question proposals to ensure there is sufficient time to place any approved questions on the Nov. 7 general election ballot.
Councilman Carl Bienias III proposed a ballot question asking voters if they want to reduce the size of council from 11 to seven members.
Councilman Gregory S. Wolovich Jr. is proposing a ballot question to change the makeup of the county election board.
A council majority supported the pursuit of ballot questions to improve the county’s home rule charter at the start of this year, when it rejected Councilman Stephen J. Urban’s proposal to ask May 16 primary election voters if they want to reconsider the home rule government structure.
Urban’s proposal would have asked voters if they want to convene a seven-citizen, elected commission to assess the charter and recommend whether to keep it as is, revise it, try a different structure or revert back to the prior three-commissioner system.
The current charter replaced a system in effect for more than 150 years and put 11 part-time elected council members and a council-appointed manager in charge of decisions previously made by three elected commissioners and several elected row officers.
Council reduction
To get from 11 to seven members, Bienias is proposing voters select three council members instead of five in the 2025 election and choose four instead of six in the 2027 election.
Once the legislative body is fully reduced, the cycle of electing three or four members every two years would continue to fulfill the current charter’s plan of maintaining staggered terms.
The terms of council members would remain four years.
Election Board
Under the charter, the election board has four council-appointed citizens — two Republicans and two Democrats. Those four then choose a fifth member of any or no affiliation to serve as chair.
Denise Williams, a Democrat, currently serves as the fifth member/chair through April 20, 2025.
Wolovich’s proposed ballot question would require council to appoint all five election board members through majority vote.
The board structure — two Democrats, two Republicans and a fifth of any affiliation — would remain the same.
However, the fifth member of any affiliation will be appointed by council every two years instead of serving a four-year term.
The election board members would then choose which of the five members serves as chair through a reorganization vote every two years.
Next step
Bienias said both proposed ballot questions must still be reviewed by the law division.
He expects they will be discussed at council’s next work session on May 9, stressing they are still preliminary proposals subject to council discussion and modification.
Because the proposed questions are enacted through ordinances, they must be introduced at a voting meeting to advance. If that occurs, council would then have to hold a public hearing and final vote at a subsequent meeting for passage.
Aug. 8 is the last possible day for council to file ballot questions with the county election bureau to place the questions on the November general election ballot, according to the law office.
Voters would then ultimately decide if the changes are incorporated in the charter.
Bienias reiterated that a general election is preferable for such county ballot questions because voter participation and turnout is higher than it would be in a primary election.
Council members voting against Urban’s study commission proposal in January had argued council should have an opportunity to bring suggested home rule improvements directly to voters through ballot questions, saying that approach won’t risk a study commission recommendation to return to the old structure.
Advocates of the commission had maintained an outside panel was the best way to tackle home rule deficiencies in one sweep and emphasized the commission could choose to keep home rule.