First candidates submit paperwork for Luzerne County study commission

The first nomination paperwork has been filed by candidates interested in serving on Luzerne County’s proposed government study commission.

April 23 primary election voters will simultaneously decide if they want to convene a commission and choose seven citizens to serve on the panel. The selected seven would only serve if the referendum passes.

Nomination papers and all required documents must be filed with the election bureau before 4:30 p.m. Feb. 13.

In the first filing so far, seven citizens teamed up to collect the required nomination signatures from county voters: Alisha Hoffman-Mirilovich, Fairview Township; Vito Malacari, Hanover Township; Mark Shaffer, Wilkes-Barre; Andy Wilczak, Wright Township; Fermin Diaz, West Hazleton; Claudia Glennan, Salem Township; and Cindy Malkemes, Dallas Township.

While these candidates are running as a “Unity for Our Community” slate, they will be listed individually on the ballot.

In the signature collection papers, commission candidates must identify a “vacancy committee” of three to five people empowered to nominate someone to fill a candidate vacancy due to death or withdrawal.

This vacancy committee process would only apply before the primary because vacancies of elected study commission members are filled by the remaining seated study commission members.

The seven candidates circulating together selected the following five citizens for their vacancy committee: (county councilman) Jimmy Sabatino, Butler Township; Susan Gilbert, Wilkes-Barre; Lauren McCurdy, Wright Township; Eric Wolcott, Salem Township; and Andrea Glod, Wilkes-Barre.

The candidates listed the following professions in the paperwork: Hoffman-Mirilovich, executive director, Action Together NEPA; Malacari, teacher, Northwest Area School District; Shaffer, research analyst, The Institute; Wilczak, professor, Wilkes University; Diaz, an instructor at Penn State Hazleton; Glennan, retired; and Malkemes, an academic counselor at the Luzerne County Community College.

Study commission candidates must obtain at least 200 signatures from county registered voters on their nomination papers. Voters can nominate up to seven candidates, which means those who signed for the group of seven cannot sign nomination papers for other study commission candidates.

The paperwork submitted by the seven contained approximately 236 voter signatures.

If activated, the panel must examine the county’s current home rule structure that took effect in 2012 and decide if it wants to prepare and recommend changes. The commission would be free to recommend alterations to the existing charter, an entirely new charter or a return to the prior state code system in which three elected commissioners and multiple row officers handled decisions that now rest with an 11-member council and appointed manager. Voters must approve any recommended change for it to take effect.

The commission would have nine months to report findings and recommendations and an additional nine months if it is opting to prepare and submit government changes. An extra two months is allowable if the commission is recommending a charter electing council by district instead of at large.