Luzerne County government study commission debated

Luzerne County Councilman Stephen J. Urban is pushing for an elected commission to study the county’s government structure and decide if a change should be put before voters.

But while seven of the 11 council members agree changes are warranted, they do not currently support Urban’s proposed action because it could result in a recommendation to throw out the current home rule structure and revert to the prior three-commissioner system.

Instead, the seven want council to come up with recommendations to improve the home rule charter based on their first-hand observations and place those proposed amendments on the ballot.

Under Urban’s proposal, which he plans to present as an ordinance as soon as possible, county May 16 primary election voters would decide if they want to form a new Government Study Commission and, if so, simultaneously elect citizens to serve on the commission. Urban is suggesting a seven-citizen committee.

These commission members would have up to 18 months to perform their work. Any commission-recommended change would have to be approved by future voters to take effect, which is what occurred before the county’s January 2012 switch to home rule.

The current charter replaced a system in effect more than 150 years and put 11 part-time elected council members and a council-appointed manager in charge of decisions previously made by three elected commissioners and several elected row officers.

Study commission members would operate as an independent body and have freedom to recommend no change, alterations to the current home rule structure or a return to the prior system.

Four of 11 council members must agree to introduce Urban’s ordinance for it to advance to a public hearing and final vote, with support from a council majority required for the question to be placed on the ballot.

Commission support

Two council members — Chairwoman Kendra Radle and Brian Thornton— said they support formation of a study commission.

A third — Kevin Lescavage — said he is convinced after a year on council that the county should return to the prior system but increase from three to five elected commissioners so that it will take more two majority commissioners to make decisions. Formation of a study commission would be the only avenue to pitch such a change because council does not have authority to directly ask voters to change to a new structure, officials have said.

Radle said she had unsuccessfully proposed formation of a study commission earlier this year and believes it would be a good idea that does not necessarily have to result in a recommended return to the prior system.

“A commission may just end up recommending updates and improvements to the charter. Hopefully responsible people with differing opinions would be elected to serve on the commission and work together to come up with a good way to move forward,” Radle said.

With the home rule structure now starting its twelfth year, enough time has passed to “see what’s working and not,” she said. Council members are frequently left with a lack of clarity on how to proceed amid disagreements over whether provisions in the charter conflict with superseding state laws, she added.

“We spend a lot of time arguing between state laws and the charter. It’s not just a couple of places. It’s quite often it happens,” Radle said.

Thornton said he supports formation of an outside study commission and would personally recommend it reduce council to seven or possibly five members if the commission decided home rule should be kept, saying a body of 11 is “too large and unwieldy.”

He also believes the manager has too much power over operational decisions. While council ultimately hires and fires the manager, it can’t interfere with personnel or the running of departments, such as the election bureau, even when citizens complain and direct their anger at the elected council, Thornton said.

Thornton said he regularly receives emails complaining about council inaction in addressing personnel matters that are under the manager’s control. Email senders usually tell him the lack of council control is “stupid or dumb,” he said, noting that he replies that “this is the government people wanted.”

”One person at the helm with all that power and control, I don’t think that’s good,” he said of the manager.

Urban maintains “drastic changes” are needed to make home rule function properly and argues it would take council too many years to tackle them through individual ballot amendments.

If home rule remains, he believes it needs more checks and balances and up-front legal research so there is less need to rely on attorneys for ongoing interpretation.

He personally would support five council members or commissioners, saying 11 is too many and three is not enough. The possibility of an elected manager also should be explored, he said, cautioning he does not believe there’s any foolproof way to completely remove politics from hiring.

“Some things in the charter do work. You’d have to look at the whole picture,” Urban said. “We either need to improve what we have or go back to something that once was. I think more of a hybrid approach would work.”

Internal changes

Councilman Gregory S. Wolovich Jr. said he believes at least 75% of the home rule charter is probably fine the way it is and asserts he and his colleagues are in the best position to address the rest piece by piece because they have working experience.

He questions whether an outside elected commission will have the expertise and committment to fully understand the current structure and complexities of county government.

“I think a Government Study Commission would be dangerous. Those seven can do whatever they want. I’m all for getting a council subcommittee together to work on different parts of the charter,” Wolovich said.

Wolovich described the current structure as “more of a representative form of government” and said it “just needs to be altered a little bit.” Regarding the prior system, he said it is a “lot easier for outside influences to get to three people than a large group.”

Councilman Carl Bienias III supports incremental improvements, saying he is confident he and his colleagues are committed to identifying suggestions to make the charter better, particularly now that council has wrapped up months of working on the 2023 budget.

Bienias said he believes all council members agree changes need to be made. Most recognize the overall system in place has had successes in paying down inherited debt and increased transparency, he said.

“I don’t want to scrap the whole thing. Let’s put out some amendments,” Bienias said.

Lombardo concurred, saying he intends to seek formation of a council committee, possibly a committee of the whole, to review charter concerns and propose fixes.

Presenting suggested changes individually to voters will allow for more debate and arguments for and against them and help the public understand the implications, he said.

Lombardo also pointed out the “potential for craziness” if the composition of citizens elected to the commission does not include people with skills and traits needed to take on that task.

“If they choose to completely dismantle home rule, we’re going to have significant problems,” Lombardo said. “Overall, this structure is positive, especially when it comes to fiscal issues.”

Councilwoman LeeAnn McDermott said she would be supportive of incremental changes to see if they help. The county’s home rule structure is still relatively new, and she does not know if “it is warranted to risk throwing it away.”

Councilman Chris Perry said he wholeheartedly supports a council committee to come up with changes for voters to consider but is against a study commission.

Perry said council must remember the reasons why voters approved home rule. While corruption was a major factor, the county also had racked up massive debt and had more employees than necessary, he said.

“We can’t afford to go backwards, and I don’t want to take that chance. Let’s improve what we have,” Perry said.

Councilman Tim McGinley said he believes most or all council members agree there are parts of the charter that should be amended, and he is agreeable to a council examination of revisions and proposed amendments.

“I’m hesitant to go to a Government Study Commission. We’re going into the twelfth year of the charter, and I don’t think that’s enough time to see how well everything does and doesn’t work,” McGinley said.

Councilman Matthew Mitchell agreed, saying he believes council is equipped to propose remedies. For example, Mitchell wants to reconsider charter wording that counts partial appointed or elected terms of the district attorney toward a three-term limit, arguing the practice unfairly reduces the time period county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce can serve in the office.

“I think most of the charter changes warranted we could do over time. We have two opportunities every year to introduce changes to the voters,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he doesn’t “want to throw the whole thing out” because he believes home rule has greatly improved the county’s financial position and functions “pretty well from what I can see.”

“We don’t want to risk the progress that has been made since we switched to home rule,” he said.