Luzerne County Council is set to vote Tuesday on two new opioid litigation settlement fund earmarks, the agenda said.
The first is $75,000 for Lotus Manor, a Kingston recovery house for women with Opioid Use Disorder.
“Without stable housing and coordinated services, women are at heightened risk for relapse, overdose, loss of child custody, and poor maternal and infant health outcomes,” the agenda said.
Participants may reside at Lotus Manor for up to a year based on their recovery plans and clinical need, it said.
This region has a “critical shortage” of recovery housing for women that includes medication-assisted treatment, behavioral health services, and workforce development support, it said.
Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania would receive the remaining $149,490 allocation for its “Give Hope” mobile outreach program, established in 2019 to connect with and support the homeless.
Both requests were advanced to the council by the county’s Commission on Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement, which was created to make recommendations on how to spend funds received from the state’s settlement against opioid manufacturers and wholesale distributors.
Tuesday’s council meeting is at 6 p.m. in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for the remote attendance option will be posted in council’s online public meetings section at luzernecounty.org.
Council committees
A council bylaw change is on the voting agenda to create three new council committees:
• Operational Services to assess and plan improvements of county-owned infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and government facilities.
• Correctional Services to review correctional policies, monitor capital needs, and evaluate fiscal performance in the county prison system.
• Community Planning and Development to review strategic planning, land use coordination, and economic development policy, including land bank and redevelopment initiatives.
All three committees would provide goals, future plans, and recommendations to the full council.
The proposed bylaw change notes that the committees would not participate in the day-to-day administration, operational decision-making, or personnel management of the departments. Their role is limited to policy review, oversight, and evaluation to ensure that programs, services, and initiatives are “functioning effectively and remain consistent with the legislative intent of council,” it said.
Several other existing council committees would remain, it said: Authorities, Boards, and Commissions; Budget, Finance, and Audit; Legislative; Real Estate; Act 13; and Code Review.
Several inactive ad-hoc council committees are set to be dissolved, the agenda said.
Controller report
County Controller Tim McGinley, who took office in January, is scheduled to present his first required annual public report during council’s work session, which follows the voting meeting.
West Side Regional Police
Council’s work session agenda also includes discussion of the West Side Regional Police Department’s request for $300,000 in county funding to demolish and prepare a site for its future police department headquarters.
The combined law enforcement department covering Larksville and Edwardsville was activated earlier this year.
The vacant former St. Anthony’s Church campus at Jackson and Pace streets in Larksville will serve as the future department headquarters. The 0.85-acre property is severely blighted and has been deteriorating for years, creating a public safety threat, the agenda said.
American Rescue consultant
A proposed contract amendment with the county’s American Rescue Plan Act consultant is also on the work session agenda.
County Council had voted in June 2023 to keep Columbia, Maryland-based Booth Management Consulting as the American Rescue consultant for three more years at a total cost of $783,391. The contract covered grant execution packages, reimbursement requests, training, technical assistance, monitoring, and the closeout of projects to ensure the expenditures withstand federal auditing.
The administration is recommending paying Booth an additional $1.028 million to continue providing services through the end of March 2027. The payment would come from the county’s American Rescue interest earnings, it said.
American Rescue projects must be completed by the end of this year, and the agenda said final reporting to the U.S. Treasury will be necessary.
To date, the county has paid Booth $1.88 million to oversee 154 American Rescue projects, exceeding the original estimate of 40 projects when the county first publicly sought proposals from prospective consultants, it said.
The administration’s submission request stated that the proposed amendment would set Booth’s administrative fee at 3%, compared to the average 10% administrative fee for federal grants.
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