Luzerne County Courthouse
File photo
Luzerne County Council is set to fill numerous vacant seats on outside boards Tuesday, but not on the county election board.
Two citizen election board seats — one Democrat and one Republican — are vacant.
Council Chairman John Lombardo said Monday he and council Vice Chairman Brian Thornton discussed the matter and decided to hold off on the election board appointments to see if more citizens are interested and, if so, provide council with choices.
County Election Board Chairwoman Denise Williams said the delay “seems suspect” and is “very concerning.”
The volunteer, five-citizen board oversees elections, makes determinations on flagged ballots and write-in votes and certifies election results.
The seats held by Republican James Mangan and Democrat Audrey Serniak expired Dec. 31.
Serniak is seeking reappointment, and no other Democrats are on the eligibility list. To be eligible for appointment, applicants must undergo a public interview and meet county home rule charter requirements.
Mangan did not seek reappointment, and West Pittston resident Roxanne Arreguin is the lone Republican on the eligibility list.
During her 2022 interview, Arreguin said she was a retired accountant from Arizona, and moved to Pennsylvania four years prior for her husband’s employment. She said she applied for the election board seat to serve the community and because she believes safe and secure elections are very important for all registered voters.
Arreguin said Monday she is still interested in serving on the board.
Election board members must be available on Election Day and during the day for a little over a week to two weeks after each primary and general election for the adjudication process. Arreguin said Monday she would be available for the adjudication.
Another Republican — Vivian Kreidler-Licina — had been on the eligibility list but said Monday she withdrew because she would have to prematurely resign from the election board in 2025, when she intends to run for county council.
Williams questioned the logic of waiting on election board appointments when there are two qualified applicants, saying several news articles already had been published last year urging any interested citizens to apply for the vacant seats.
She also observed council is set to proceed with several single-applicant appointments to other boards Tuesday.
“The optics to me is that they’re playing politics if the Board of Elections is the only one not being addressed when others have the same situation,” Williams said. “It’s very concerning to me, but I’m not surprised.”
And while the board still has a quorum of three members required to conduct business, Williams said a full board should be in place as soon as possible.
“It’s a presidential election year, and there is a lot going on. I would think they’d want these seats filled immediately,” Williams said.
Lombardo said the other single-applicant appointments on Tuesday’s agenda are reappointments that may not require the same level of review as new appointees. Although Serniak would be a reappointment, Lombardo said he wanted to fill both board seats at the same time.
He said council has 60 days to make appointments to the board, or until the end of February. That would leave time for any new or returning board members to get up to speed, he said.
The election board’s next scheduled meeting is Jan. 17.
“They have a quorum. If there was an issue of functionality, it would be different, but there’s not,” Lombardo said.
Serniak, a retired personal insurance service representative from Plains Township, served on the election board since July 2019.
The remaining two council-appointed election board members — Democrat Daniel Schramm and Republican Alyssa Fusaro — are in terms that do not expire until the end of 2025. Williams, a Democrat, serves through April 20, 2025.
Scheduled appointments
The board members up for reappointment Tuesday in seats that expired the end of 2023, with no other applicants on the eligibility list, according to the county postings: Flood Protection Authority, William Hardwick; Redevelopment Authority, Stephen Phillips; Transportation Authority, Joseph Padavan and John Young; Children and Youth Advisory Board, Denise Acosta; Farmland Preservation Board, Nancy Snee; Zoning Hearing Board, William Harris; Area Agency on Aging Advisory Board, Phyllis Mundy, Henry Pennoni, William Runner and David Yonki; and Mental Health and Developmental Services Advisory Board, Linda Loop.
Council also is set to fill one seat on the Board of Tax Assessment Appeals and four on the Luzerne County Community College Board of Trustees.
Two of three seats on the county’s assessment appeals board expired the end of 2023, with those seats held by Kenneth Temborski and Richard Long, the county’s website says.
Jenny Centrella is the lone applicant on the eligibility list. Centrella has said she has more than 30 years of experience as a certified real estate appraiser. She is interested in serving because she wants to ensure the evidence property owners bring to the board is accurate and not inflated and that the county is “getting a fair shake,” she had said.
There is no problem attracting applicants interested in serving on the 15-member board of trustees that oversees the Luzerne County Community College.
The four community college trustee seats that expired the end of 2023 were filled by Joseph Lettiere, James Dennis, Bernard Graham and Attorney Catherine O’Donnell, the county’s website says.
O’Donnell, Dennis and Graham are seeking reappointment, and five others are on the eligibility list: Joseph Cotter, Megan Kennedy, William Lewis, Robert Linskey and Robert Schnee.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for the remote attendance option are posted under council’s online meetings link at luzernecounty.org.
