Griffith

Griffith

<p>DeLuca</p>

DeLuca

Luzerne County Council’s formation of an outside manager search committee has been delayed again.

Tuesday’s session to interview additional applicants and Thursday’s meeting to appoint committee members were both cancelled after Councilman Walter Griffith raised questions about the legality of holding virtual-only gatherings.

Required by the county’s home rule charter, the volunteer committee seeks and screens manager applicants and recommends qualified finalists to council.

Council resumed in-person meetings last week, but council Chairman Tim McGinley scheduled this week’s sessions as virtual to be consistent. Ten search committee applicants previously were interviewed through virtual meetings June 29, and McGinley said he didn’t want to provide an unfair advantage to the new applicants by inviting them to appear in person.

Griffith said council did not discuss this virtual plan, and he questioned whether it was permissible to “arbitrarily decide to do remote-only” when there is not an emergency situation.

About three hours before Tuesday’s session, Griffith said he reached out to the state Office of Open Records and was informed a quorum of council must now be physically present at the courthouse for meetings. He pointed to a notice on the state office’s website that says “all agencies should return to pre-COVID status with respect to public meetings and the expectation that meetings will include a physical gathering that allows for public attendance, observation and comment.”

County acting Chief Solicitor Vito DeLuca said Tuesday night he has not determined whether this week’s virtual meetings were prohibited or allowed under state law, but he advised their cancellation to perform research.

DeLuca said a representative of the state Office of Open Records had previously provided an opinion to a council member about a county advisory board that was later retracted by that office as a whole, so he wants to delve into any legal arguments presented by the state office and independently review statutory and case law.

The county crafted a virtual meeting set-up that DeLuca believes meets the legal requirement for full and meaningful public participation because it provides live video and audio interaction and the opportunity for attendees to witness what’s happening and comment by phone or video while the meeting is still taking place, as opposed to submitting only written comments, he said.

DeLuca said the real question is whether council is legally required to be at one physical location for every meeting.

If the answer is yes, DeLuca said his office will issue recommendations on how council should proceed and whether corrective action is required for votes at any past meetings. Should virtual sessions still be permissible in some fashion, DeLuca said specific guidance will be offered to council.

The previous manager search delay occurred when council held a July 1 meeting intending to select committee members. Instead, council decided to re-advertise and remove eligibility barriers that would have prevented some from serving.

Griffith said Tuesday the state’s emergency declaration was lifted on June 15, which leads him to believe both virtual meetings on June 29 and July 1 violated state law and must be held again “to be fair to all applicants.”

“I totally understand that this is an inconvenience but feel if someone would challenge the validity of the June 29 and July 1 meeting, then we may be forced to do the entire process over again,” he wrote in an email to council and DeLuca.

Ratifying what occurred at those meetings without holding them again is “not acceptable” because all applicants should have the option to appear in person or virtually, he said. Council’s in-person meetings are now hybrid, allowing continued attendance by phone or an online meeting platform.

Griffith also said this week’s meeting legal advertisements did not contain the phone number for attendees to call in and instead directed people to the county website, which doesn’t accommodate those without computers.

Re-advertising and this week’s meeting cancellation have delayed the manager search process about a month.

It took the last manager search committee four months to formulate a plan and receive and screen applications, which means council may not be interviewing candidates for the position vacated by C. David Pedri until December. Lame duck concerns related to new council members taking office in January could push a decision into 2022 regardless.

McGinley said he does not expect the meetings to interview and select search committee applicants will be rescheduled until August because council already has a regular meeting with a packed agenda next week. He said he won’t proceed with any scheduling plan until council discusses the matter at that meeting.

The additional eight committee applicants not yet interviewed: Brian Dwyer, George F. Hayden, John Magagna, Matt Mitchell, Walter S. Mitchell Jr., Patrick Musto, John F. Newman and Ernest Searfoss.

The 10 already interviewed and remaining under consideration: Angelo P. Grasso Jr., Chris Hackett, Sherri Homanko, Rick Morelli, Brian D. O’Donnell, Patrick Patte, Michael Reich, Jeffrey Rockman, Alec Ryncavage and Ray Wendolowski.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.