Luzerne County Council has a lot of ground to cover at Tuesday’s meeting, including decisions on several litigation settlements, contract extensions for the prison inmate medical provider and American Rescue Plan consultant and a proposed home rule charter ballot question impacting the election board.
Litigation
The first settlement of $30,000 would close out a suit Tamra Roper filed in federal court against the county, prior correctional services division head Mark Rockovich and previous prison deputy warden Sam Hyder.
This suit alleges claims for “negligent hiring, training, supervision and retention of employees and intentional infliction of emotional distress experienced by Ms. Roper” as a correctional officer, the agenda submission said. According to a previously published report, Roper alleged sexually derogatory comments were made about her in March 2020 and that the “false, degrading, insulting and humiliating information” was discussed during a meeting of prison supervisors and management.
The second settlement of $14,000 is for litigation filed in county court against the county and Luzerne-Wyoming Counties Mental Health and Developmental Services by Kimberly Osterhout alleging inadequate care of her son, Thomas Powell, while he was placed in a group home through an agency contract, the meeting agenda said. If approved, the county and mental health agency would each pay $7,000.
The final settlement of $30,000 stems from litigation Allison Cave filed in county court against prior county Children and Youth administrator Joanne Van Saun alleging “defamation, tortious interference and negligent infliction of emotional distress” by Van Saun while Van Saun was a county employee, the agenda said.
Van Saun, of Dallas, was sentenced in December 2021 to 34 months of probation for misdemeanor child endangerment and obstruction offenses, with the first nine months on house arrest, related to her failure to investigate at least 217 reports alleging child abuse and neglect in 2017.
Contract extensions
Council had unanimously voted last month to extend its prison inmate medical provider contract from the original May 14 expiration until the end of June so the county had time to seek proposals in case other entities are interested in the work.
Larry Doll, a representative of the current provider, WellPath LLC, said his company welcomes a competitive search but cautioned council the process will take months because the county has to draft a fresh request for proposals incorporating changing needs, allow prospective vendors to tour the facility and submit questions and assess the responses.
Remaining on a month-to-month contract indefinitely creates challenges in recruiting and retaining staff, he said. Instead, Doll proposed council extend WellPath’s agreement through the end of the year and set a Jan. 1, 2024 start date for the chosen entity.
The provider must supply a range of medical and mental health services and personnel, including prescription and nonprescription drugs and emergency ambulance transport for an average daily 550 to 560 inmates at the Water Street prison and nearby minimum offenders building on Reichard Street in Wilkes-Barre.
The resolution document on council’s agenda contains a blank line to insert the number of months the contract would be extended.
An attached letter said WellPath would be paid $344,757 per month from July 1 through the end of the year.
The second contract extension is for Columbia, Maryland-based Booth Management Consulting, which has served as the county’s American Rescue consultant since last June.
Council had unanimously voted hire Booth Management for up to $350,000 to provide guidance on American Rescue eligibility screening and funding administration through June 30, 2023. The administration said consultant continuity will be “extremely beneficial” when the county’s American Rescue funds and 145 council-approved project awards are audited.
Council has three renewal options:
• Full service for three more years, $783,391
• Full service for one more year, $583,392
• Basic service for one more year, $268,662. This option covers processing of grant execution packages, reimbursement requests, training and technical assistance. It won’t include the monitoring and closeout of projects.
Ballot question
Drafted by county Councilman Gregory S. Wolovich Jr., the proposed ballot question would reconstitute the county’s volunteer, five-citizen election board.
Council currently appoints four board members — two Republicans and two Democrats. Those four then choose a fifth member of any or no affiliation to serve for four years and act as board chair.
The proposed question would ask voters if they want council to appoint all five members.
The board structure — two Democrats, two Republicans and a fifth of any affiliation — would remain the same. However, the fifth member of any affiliation would 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 and vice chair through a reorganization vote every two years, the proposal says.
The current election board would be vacated if the ballot question passed in the Nov. 7 general election because the reconstituted structure would take effect in January, although Wolovich has said he encourages current members to reapply along with other interested citizens, particularly third-party voters and those with no affiliation.
Several citizens have criticized the potential change.
Other decisions
Council also is set to approve a new collective bargaining agreement with probation and domestic relations support officers covered by the Court Appointed Professional Employees Association. That contract expired the end of 2022.
Details of the contract changes are typically presented during the public meeting, before council votes.
In yet another matter, councilman Tim McGinley is asking his colleagues to allocate $500,000 in American Rescue funding to the Dallas Area Municipality Authority toward its eligible project upgrading “main and equalization tank pump stations.”
Council members had halted an allocation due to an outstanding criminal complaint filed against DAMA over allegations of untreated sewage dumping into Toby Creek. In response, DAMA Executive Director Thomas G. Keiper sent council a communication urging reconsideration, saying the activities alleged in the complaint occurred many years ago and stem from sanitary sewer overflows that occur in many sewer collection systems throughout the state. DAMA has already paid civil penalties for those overflows and “questions whether the new allegations rise to the level of criminal activity,” his letter had said.
McGinley said DAMA serves multiple Back Mountain municipalities, and ratepayers are “the only people who are going to suffer” if council fails to allocate funding.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, with a work session to follow. Instructions for remote attendance are posted under council’s online meetings section at luzernecounty.org.
Immediately preceding the meeting, council will hold a required public hearing at 5:40 p.m. to accept public comment on the proposed election board ballot question and at 5:50 p.m. on a budget amendment ordinance to accurately reflect carryover funds at 911.