Luzerne County hires contractor for campaign finance database creation

Luzerne County’s Election Bureau recently entered into a $23,000 contract with EasyVote Solutions to implement a campaign finance report database, according to an online posting.

The database stems from the bureau’s new campaign finance report access procedure. The bureau had decided in June to start requiring the public to submit a form to view reports instead of posting them online.

County Election Director Emily Cook had said caution was raised about the online posting of home addresses of candidates and elected officials during a conference for eastern Pennsylvania election office officials held shortly after the June shooting deaths of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark at their residence and another shooting that seriously wounded state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, at their house.

Cook had said the bureau does not have the manpower to redact addresses for multiple reports annually, dating back years. County Controller Walter Griffith had proposed hiring an outside vendor to handle the posting and redaction.

In response to that suggestion, the bureau compared packages from two outside vendors and selected EasyVote. The $23,000 covers the database creation, staff training, licenses and implementation fees, the contract review sheet said.

Ethics Commission

The county Ethics Commission is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, with plans to discuss two new enforcement attorney applicants.

Under the county council-adopted ethics code, complaints must be opened and initially reviewed by an outside enforcement attorney contracted by the commission. The code requires a panel of three attorneys, with cases assigned on a rotating basis as an added check and balance. However, the three-attorney requirement is often unmet due to recruitment challenges, commission members have said.

Commission members agreed to step up advertising after Attorney Qiana Murphy Lehman, the lone attorney, resigned in May. Murphy Lehman expressed an interest in returning and was reappointed in September. Two more applicants have submitted proposals that are awaiting commission consideration — Attorney Nesta N. Johnson, principal of Nesta Rose Consulting in Wilkes-Barre, and Attorney Rachel L. James from Johnson Duffie Stewart & Weidner, which is based in Cumberland County.

Enforcement attorneys are paid $225 per hour, with an annual cap of $25,000.

A link for the remote meeting attendance option is posted under the council’s authorities, boards and commissions online meeting section at luzernecounty.org.

Council

County Council will hold a voting meeting and work session starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the courthouse.

Before this meeting, the council’s Real Estate Committee will gather at 5 p.m. to discuss potential policy changes regarding purchase offers for smaller, unused county-owned parcels.

Three public hearings will also be held, starting at 5:30 p.m., with the first to obtain comments on the proposed 2026 budget, which is posted with the agenda at luzernecounty.org.

The second hearing, set at 5:50 p.m., involves a proposal to transfer $382,000 in reserve funds and $1 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act interest earnings to the capital budget to fund projects the council had previously approved in the annual capital plan. The final hearing at 5:55 p.m. covers a 2025 budget amendment necessary to log the receipt of $22,883 from a grant awarded to the county’s Children, Youth and Families.

Voting agenda

An ordinance up for introduction on Tuesday would impose a $100 fee on properties purchased in county delinquent tax auctions and mortgage foreclosure auctions to generate revenue for a new county demolition and rehabilitation fund.

Fee revenue would be deposited in a segregated interest-earning bank account. County Council could use the funds for county demolition and rehabilitation projects, and may award funds to municipalities, school districts, redevelopment authorities, land banks and other nonprofit entities to demolish or rehabilitate blighted properties, the agenda said.

A public hearing and majority council vote would be necessary at a future meeting for the proposal to take effect.