Public forum scheduled for Luzerne County Council candidates

The Wilkes-Barre Area League of Women Voters is holding a moderated public forum Thursday evening (Oct. 26) for Luzerne County Council candidates to explain their positions to the public.

The forum will run from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Luzerne County Community College Educational Conference Center in Nanticoke.

There is no charge. Political signs are not permitted.

The forum will be moderated by Christine Mellon, a full-time faculty member in communication studies at Wilkes University and also coach of the university’s speech and debate teams. Questions will be developed by the league, which is a nonpartisan organization that supports voter education through voter’s guides and informational events.

A recording of the forum will be posted later in the week on the league’s website, https://www.lwvwba.org.

Nov. 7 general election voters will fill six of 11 council seats. Twelve candidates appear on the ballot — six Democrats and six Republicans.

Opioid commission

Luzerne County Council Chairwoman Kendra Vough has appointed Councilman Matthew Mitchell to a council seat on the county’s new Commission on Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement, she informed her colleagues last week.

The commission will make recommendations to council on the spending of money received from the state’s litigation settlement against opioid manufacturers and wholesale distributors.

The county is due to receive approximately $25 million over 18 years.

In addition to the council representative, the following will serve on the commission: the county district attorney, drug/alcohol director, human services division head, correctional services division head, county manager and a county citizen.

Council has not yet set up a format for interested residents to apply for the citizen seat.

Grant application

Council is set to vote Tuesday on an application seeking a $1.43 million Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Multimodal Transportation Fund grant for road improvements and the addition of bike lanes along county-owned West County Road in Sugarloaf and Black Creek townships.

The county has received funding for a portion of this road but needs the requested amount to complete the project, the agenda says.

If the grant is awarded, the county would cover the $429,000 (30%) match with its Liquid Fuels allocation or other sources, it said.

Act 13

Council’s Act 13 Committee is set to meet at 4 p.m. tonight (Oct. 21) at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Council had voted last month to make this ad hoc committee a standing body and expand its role to review and publicly vote on all natural-gas recreation funding expenditures that would then be presented to the full council for its consideration. Councilman Brian Thornton, chairman of the committee, said he recommended the change to increase public transparency about how this money is spent.

Instructions to attend the meeting remotely will be posted under council’s public meetings online section at luzernecounty.org.

Council meeting

Council’s Tuesday meeting starts at 5 p.m. with three public hearings, followed by a 6 p.m. voting meeting and subsequent work session at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Remote attendance instructions are posted under council’s online meeting section.

Election Board

The county’s five-citizen Election Board is set to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the courthouse.

Instructions to attend remotely are posted in council’s authorities/boards/commissions online meeting section at luzernecounty.org.