Luzerne County voters will face a question on the November general election ballot asking if they want to reconstitute the county’s volunteer, five-citizen election board, a county council majority decided Tuesday.
In another election matter, county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce briefed council members and most election board members in executive session Tuesday about his office’s investigation of the November 2022 general election paper shortage.
County Chief Solicitor Harry Skene said the DA is expected to publicly release a copy of the report, with necessary redactions, on Wednesday after others are briefed.
Ballot question
The proposed ballot question will ask voters if they want council to appoint all five election board members instead of four.
Council currently appoints two Republicans and two Democrats, and those four then choose a fifth member of any or no affiliation to serve for four years and act as board chair.
With the change, council would appoint the fifth member of any affiliation every two years. The five election board members would reorganize and choose a chair every two years.
The current election board would be vacated if the ballot question passes in the Nov. 7 general election because the reconstituted structure would take effect in January. Councilman Gregory S. Wolovich Jr., the ballot question drafter, has said he encourages current members to reapply along with other interested citizens.
Fourteen citizens strongly criticized the ballot question Tuesday.
Seven of 11 council members approved placement of the question on the ballot, with several stressing the decision is ultimately up to voters: Kevin Lescavage, John Lombardo, Matthew Mitchell, Chris Perry, Brian Thornton, Wolovich and Carl Bienias III.
Those voting against the question: LeeAnn McDermott, Tim McGinley, Stephen J. Urban and Kendra Vough.
Critics of the question included Election Board members Audrey Serniak, a Democrat, and Alyssa Fusaro, a Republican, and county Controller Walter Griffith.
Action Together NEPA’s Executive Director Alisha Hoffman-Mirilovich submitted a statement asserting the proposed amendment would “undermine the independence and nonpartisan nature” of the board and is “a solution in search of a problem.”
It is “well past time for the county council to stop meddling in elections and focus on the needs of the people they serve,” she said.
“This amendment does nothing to fix the real problems hindering elections in Luzerne County, such as lack of funding for election administration, inability to recruit and retain poll workers and judges of elections, voting equipment issues, high turnover within the bureau of elections and loss of institutional knowledge within the bureau and administrative leadership,” Hoffman-Mirilovich wrote. “Elections issues in Luzerne County have nothing to do with the length of an election board member’s term or the process for appointing board members.”
Wolovich said the ballot question is not political and was intended to make the board’s structure consistent with other county boards in which council members appoint all citizen members.
Other decisions
A council majority or the entire council also voted Tuesday to settle three pending lawsuits in the following amounts:
• $30,000 to close out a suit Tamra Roper filed against the county and two prior prison administrators alleging sexually derogatory comments were made about her in her position as a correctional officer.
• $14,000 to end litigation against the county and Luzerne-Wyoming Counties Mental Health and Developmental Services filed by Kimberly Osterhout alleging inadequate care of her son, Thomas Powell, while he was placed in a group home through an agency contract.
• $30,000 to resolve 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, according to the agenda.
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.
McGinley said the county is researching the possibility of filing legal action against Van Saun attempting to recoup the settlement payment.
In other business, council voted to:
• Extend the prison inmate medical provider contract with WellPath LLC for six more months, which will allow time to publicly seek and vet all providers interested in the work.
• Keep Columbia, Maryland-based Booth Management Consulting as the county’s American Rescue Plan consultant for three more years at a cost of $783,391.
• Approve a new collective bargaining agreement with probation and domestic relations support officers covered by the Court Appointed Professional Employees Association, which has been working under a contract that expired the end of 2022. County officials said they will be publicly releasing a summary of changes.
• Allocate $500,000 in American Rescue funding to the Dallas Area Municipality Authority toward its eligible project upgrading “main and equalization tank pump stations.”