2025 IN REVIEW: Luzerne County ends year in state of transition

Luzerne County government ended 2025 in a transitional state, with four of 11 County Council members and the elected Controller wrapping up their terms.

Council will shift to a Democratic majority when four new members — Chris Belles, Steve Coslett, Dawn Simmons and Denise Williams — take the oath of office on Jan. 5, along with Republican John Lombardo, who was re-elected in the Nov. 4 general election.

These five will be seated with Democrats Joanna Bryn Smith, Patty Krushnowski, Jimmy Sabatino, and Brittany Stephenson, and Republicans Harry Haas and LeeAnn McDermott.

Democrat Tim McGinley was elected the new controller on Nov. 4 over Republican incumbent Walter Griffith. McGinley is no stranger to county government, because he served three elected council terms totaling 12 years, from the 2012 start of home rule until the end of 2023.

While voters selected some new elected officials, they rejected a proposed switch to a new county charter that would have reduced council to nine members at the start of 2028 and provided council with authority to alter the structure of the county Election Board.

Staff

County Council confirmed County Manager Romilda Crocamo’s nominees for two vacant top division head positions in 2025.

Megan Stone was appointed in January to oversee the Human Services Division, which includes Children, Youth and Families; Mental Health and Developmental Services; Drug and Alcohol; Area Agency on Aging; and Veteran Affairs.

In November, county grant writer Michele Sparich became the new Operational Services Division head, overseeing departments that include Engineering, Roads and Bridges, 911, Emergency Management, and Buildings and Grounds.

A council majority also agreed to Crocamo’s request to create a new Infrastructure, Community, and Economic Development Division in 2026 that will focus on attracting businesses that enhance the quality of life.

This is the first new division added since the implementation of home rule, which had created eight divisions.

The county has advertised this new division head position, with applications due Jan. 6. Several departments will switch to the new division, including the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Office of Community Development; GIS/Mapping, and Planning and Zoning.

In other 2025 administration actions, Crocamo appointed Vito DeLuca as the county’s first chief artificial intelligence (AI) officer in January, describing the move as a “forward-thinking step” to keep the county at the forefront of technological innovation.

DeLuca remains employed as the county’s first assistant solicitor and is performing artificial intelligence duties without additional compensation, Crocamo has said.

The county also added a K-9 to the workforce this year — Labrador Retriever Hylee (pronounced I-lee) — in the Sheriff’s Department.

Hylee was primarily trained to detect explosives but is also certified to find firearms. County Sheriff Corporal Michael Flynn is her handler.

Hylee executed her first on-duty find, including a gun buried under a stack of clothes inside a dresser, while assisting in a Nanticoke search warrant in November.

Bridges

Crocamo closed the county-owned Nanticoke/West Nanticoke Bridge over the Susquehanna River in March after engineers performing an inspection found further deterioration and section loss of primary, load-carrying components.

With the closing, the alternate route is the Route 29/South Cross Valley Expressway crossing, officially called the John S. Fine Bridge.

Totaling 2,072 feet, the bridge connects Nanticoke and the West Nanticoke section of Plymouth Township. The crossing was constructed in 1914 and last rehabilitated in 1987.

County Council selected Modjeski and Masters Inc. as the engineer for the Nanticoke/West Nanticoke Bridge replacement project in August.

In addition to $10 million in federal funding allocated through the state for this project, the county has access to a $55 million casino gambling fund established for county infrastructure. Because federal funding is involved, the engineer must first develop three options for the bridge, officials said.

The county released design plans in August for another county-owned crossing over the Susquehanna — the Firefighters’ Memorial Bridge linking Pittston and West Pittston — that includes new lighting and features intended to honor first responders.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation had agreed to assume responsibility for replacing the county-owned span because it is part of a bridge bundling that also will replace the nearby state-owned Spc. Dale J. Kridlo Bridge (Fort Jenkins) Bridge.

County officials closed the Firefighters’ Memorial Bridge, also known as the Water Street Bridge, in August 2021 due to concerns over a bent eyebar, prompting a dramatic traffic increase on the Fort Jenkins span.

Train station

Citing the importance of protecting a landmark structure, a County Council majority voted in May to purchase the historic train station property in downtown Wilkes-Barre for $615,000.

The county wanted to acquire the 154-year-old former train station on Wilkes-Barre Boulevard because it was listed for sale and had housed the county tourism office, Visit Luzerne County, since February 2022. The purchase was funded with a portion of accrued interest on county community development office funds

Council also decided in May to initiate litigation against the county Redevelopment Authority over an outstanding debt related to its rail line.

Letters show the county wants the authority to turn over the railroad so it can be sold to recoup $3.28 million that had been loaned to the authority for the rail line. A county council-authorized lawsuit filed against the authority in July is now in the discovery phase.

While the delinquent loan was cited as a reason for the county litigation, it appears to be part of a broader effort to privatize the track, with the hope of adding passenger rail excursions while expanding commercial use.

The suit seeks court appointment of an oversight receiver or a declaration that the $3.28 million the county loaned to the authority is immediately due. The county suit is also against the nonprofit Rail Corp., which maintains a lease agreement with the rail operator, R.J. Corman Railroad Group.

The authority and Rail Corp. have argued there is no breach of contract to litigate because the authority has until October 2026 to repay the county.

Reading & Northern Railroad Chairman and CEO Andy M. Muller Jr. made an unsolicited offer to purchase the line for $10 million in October, stating that he would increase freight service and introduce passenger train excursions from Wilkes-Barre to Pittston. These are not commuter routes, but they would connect Wilkes-Barre to popular tourism train rides, such as existing excursions Reading & Northern operates from Pittston to historic Jim Thorpe.

Although initially resistant to non-public rail ownership, authority representatives decided offers should be considered, but only in a public process open to all interested entities.

The authority board retained a consultant to document rail line assets in December and said it is months away from seeking purchase offers to buy or lease the line.

Tax base

A county Assessor’s Office certification in March indicated the county tax base increased $287.1 million in a year — a tangible measurement of construction growth.

This certification tallies the value of all real estate and provides a snapshot reading. Comparing the January 2024 and 2025 reports, the county’s overall tax base grew from $21.44 billion to $21.73 billion over the one-year period.

Much of the growth is from major commercial development on former coal mining land in the county that prompted taxing bodies to grant real estate tax breaks that will delay their full collection of revenue.

Data centers emerged as a discussion matter in County Council meetings in February with NorthPoint Development’s tax break request for a 15-building data center, named Hazelnut, on a 1,280-acre site in Hazle Township. A council majority approved the break in March, with a package that would require the developer to pay an estimated $1.18 million to the county in lieu of taxes to partially offset the impact of tax forgiveness

DA

During his annual report in March, county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce cited a “pretty steady increase” in child sex abuse cases in recent years, including those involving child sex abuse materials.

Part of this stems from the office’s growing expertise in detecting online offenders through searches on the dark web, Sanguedolce said.

Human trafficking is also on the rise in this area, the DA said. This is a crime in which people profit by exploiting others to perform services, such as labor or sexual acts.

For information about human trafficking resources or to report a suspected case, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text “HELP” to 233733.

Concert controversy

Adam Weiner, the frontman of Philadelphia-based band Low Cut Connie, publicly accused county Rockin’ the River promoters of cancelling its July performance due to politics.

Weiner had said in a video he speaks about diversity and inclusion in his performances and had recently released a song, “Livin in the USA,” that “speaks to the terror, the unease, the fear that so many people in the United States are experiencing right now because of these ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids that are absolutely inhumane and anti-American.”

Crocamo had said the decision to cancel Low Cut Connie “was entirely based on safety and security concerns” and a desire to provide an event “free of politics and propaganda.”