New Luzerne County Council members set to take oath of office Tuesday

A swearing-in ceremony for six newly elected Luzerne County Council members will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Council will then proceed from the rotunda to the meeting room to convene together for the first time and select a new chair and vice chair.

In addition to incumbent LeeAnn McDermott, county voters selected five new council members in the Nov. 7 general election: Patty Krushnowski, Jimmy Sabatino, Joanna Bryn Smith, Brittany Stephenson and Harry Haas.

These six will be seated with five council members who have two years remaining in their terms: Kevin Lescavage, John Lombardo, Chris Perry, Brian Thornton and Gregory S. Wolovich Jr.

Instructions to remotely view the reorganization meeting are posted under council’s online meeting link at luzernecounty.org.

While Tuesday’s meeting is limited to the selection of officers, the reorganized council is scheduled to hold its first regular meeting at 6 p.m. on Jan. 9, according to a calendar previously released.

Ballot printing

The county is publicly seeking proposals from qualified companies to print ballots nd prepare and deliver mail ballot packets to voters.

Proposals are due Jan. 12. The county wants a base agreement for 2024 elections and possibly an additional one-year extension, according to the posting under the purchasing department section at luzernecounty.org.

The state has redesigned mail ballot materials to reduce voter errors and confusion, starting with the 2024 primary election.

These changes include more understandable instructions, highlighting of fields the voters must complete on the outer envelope and coloring to make it easier for voters to distinguish the outer return envelope and inner secrecy envelope that must contain the ballot.

Counties also will have discretion to use a hole punch in the outer return envelope to help county election workers identify when an inner secrecy envelope is missing, the release said.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo told the county election board last month the county is seeking pricing on all state changes, including the hole punch. That information can then be used to decide if the hole-punch option should be pursued, she said.

County Election Director Eryn Harvey had questioned whether a hole punch is necessary because the county has a ballot sorting machine purchased before the 2022 general election that segregates those that are too thin because they do not have an inner secrecy envelope.

However, Election Board members Denise Williams and Alyssa Fusaro had said the sorting machine occasionally fails to detect missing secrecy envelopes.

Mail ballots can’t be unsealed until Election Day, and the hole punch would allow workers processing the ballots to instantly verify missing secrecy envelopes so they don’t have to take time unsealing those, Williams had said.

Collective bargaining

Union contract negotiations continue with county prison workers represented by LIUNA Local 1310, the county human resources department said.

The prison collective bargaining agreement expired the end of 2023.

Negotiations will begin soon with supervisory workers in three human service departments covered by memorandums of understanding that are equivalent to union contracts, the department said. Represented by Teamster Local 401, these employees are in Children and Youth, Mental Health/Developmental Services and the Area Agency on Aging. Their memorandums expired the end of 2023.