Cost analysis released for proposed Luzerne County voting system change

Luzerne County’s election bureau has released cost analysis on its proposed leasing of a new voting system from Hart InterCivic for use in 2026, according to Tuesday’s council work session agenda.

The matter is on the work session for discussion because county council will make the final decision on the voting system.

A potential change was pursued because the five-year maintenance and support contract with voting equipment supplier Dominion Voting Systems expires at the end of this year, officials said.

The bureau is recommending having voters fill out selections on paper ballots and then feeding them into the Hart InterCivic tabulators to be tallied, which will reduce the equipment needed. Using the Dominion system, voters make selections on computerized touchscreen ballot marking devices, print out the ballot for review and then feed it into a tabulator.

Leasing of the Hart InterCivic system would cost $574,000 annually for five years, which includes equipment, software, maintenance and support services, the agenda said.

However, the bureau is estimating it will fully offset that cost with approximately $600,000 in annual savings using the new system, in part through reduced expenses for equipment transport to polling places and staffing, it said. Ballot design and equipment testing also would be completed in-house instead of relying on outside contracting, the bureau said.

The county’s election board had voted last month to accept the bureau’s recommendation of the Hart InterCivic system.

Council would have to approve the lease at a future meeting for the change to take effect. The cost analysis and further explanation on the bureau’s recommendation is posted with the work session agenda at luzernecounty.org.

Tuesday’s work session follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for the remote attendance option are posted in council’s online public meeting section at luzernecounty.org.

Voting meeting

Council is set to vote Tuesday on a proposed moratorium on southern county tax breaks.

Sugarloaf Township resident John Zola and other concerned citizens had urged council to impose the tax break moratorium, arguing the potential loss of additional customers could put pressure on PPL Electric Utilities to change the route of its planned 12-mile, 500kV transmission line cutting through Nescopeck, Black Creek, Sugarloaf and Hazle townships.

Zola is among the residential property owners impacted by the transmission line path and created the Alliance to Stop the Line group pushing for a different route.

PPL has easements for the line but needs to widen them to proceed, which means the utility must seek to exercise its eminent domain power if property owners won’t agree to expanded easements. PPL said in a letter to council the alternate routes are also within the Nescopeck/Sugarloaf Valley region and would “shift the impact from one group of landowners to another.”

Hazard mitigation

Also slated for council approval Tuesday: a 561-page hazard mitigation plan designed to educate and prepare citizens and officials about potential natural and man-made disasters.

Required every five years, the document is packed with charts and maps and describes in great detail projected risks and the impact on people and structures. The natural hazards addressed in the plan include drought, earthquakes, extreme temperatures, flooding, hailstorms, intense storms, landslides, pandemics, radon exposure, subsidence and sinkholes, tornadoes and wildfires.

A copy of the plan may be viewed at www.pennsylvaniahmp.com/luzerne-county-hmp.

Pittston/West Pittston bridge design

The proposed new design for the county-owned Firefighters’ Memorial Bridge over the Susquehanna River, which links Pittston and West Pittston, also is on Tuesday’s agenda for council approval.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has agreed to assume responsibility for replacing the closed 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. Under this package, the county will be responsible for 5% of the cost of its bridge replacement.

Opioid award

Council’s voting agenda also includes a $418,963 opioid litigation settlement award to True North Recovery of NEPA LLC toward its new Wilkes-Barre treatment facility.

The county also previously awarded $581,037 for the project on Courtright Avenue, which will house approximately 40 detoxification beds and 60 in-patient treatment beds for those with opioid and substance use disorders.

The county’s Commission on Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement makes recommendations to council on earmarks from opioid litigation settlement funds.

Sept. 11 ceremony

The public is invited to a 9/11 terrorist attack remembrance ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in the county courthouse rotunda.