Three more opioid fund earmarks on Luzerne County Council agenda

Three proposed opioid settlement fund earmarks are on Tuesday’s Luzerne County Council voting agenda.

The requests were advanced to the council by the county’s Commission on Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement, which was created to make recommendations on how to spend funds received from the state’s settlement against opioid manufacturers and wholesale distributors.

Council has earmarked approximately $6.1 million in opioid settlement funds since 2023 for a range of eligible internal and outside projects, including programs that provide medication-assisted treatment at the prison, warm hand-off and recovery specialist services, recovery housing, and treatment and prevention education.

Two proposed new earmarks up for consideration are for Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services — $61,218 to expand its prevention program and $58,171 to provide substance use disorder treatment services to those unable to pay due to a lack of insurance or high deductible, the agenda said.

The other two recommended new allocations would provide $73,150 to the Guardian Angel Recovery House to provide a safe and supportive recovery house for women working to overcome substance use disorder, which officials have identified as a need in the county.

Detailed plans on how both entities would spend the funds are posted in the meeting agenda at luzernecounty.org.

Council meeting

Council’s meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre is the last one scheduled this year.

No work session will be held on Tuesday because the board is in the process of reorganizing.

Four newly elected council members will take the oath of office on Jan. 5 — Chris Belles, Steve Coslett, Dawn Simmons, and Denise Williams. They will fill seats held by Kevin Lescavage, Chris Perry, Brian Thornton, and Greg Wolovich.

A recognition ceremony is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the courthouse rotunda for Lescavage, Perry, Thornton, and Wolovich, the agenda said.

A link for the voting meeting remote attendance option will be posted in the council’s online meeting section at luzernecounty.org.

Courthouse cafeteria

Council is set to vote Tuesday on renewal of the Center City Cafe’s lease to operate an eatery in the courthouse basement cafeteria — an agreement first implemented in 2020.

Under the original lease with business owner YonKondy Enterprises LLC, the business paid the county a monthly rent of $500 for the first half of the five-year contract and $525 for the second half.

The new lease will be $550 per month through the end of 2030, the agenda said.

Board appointments

Following last week’s latest batch of public interviews, the council posted an updated list of citizen applicants eligible for appointment to county boards.

The list may be viewed on the council’s authorities, boards and commissions section at luzernecounty.org.

Citizens must be publicly interviewed by the County Council’s Authorities, Boards, and Commissions (ABC) Committee and meet other conditions to be placed on the eligibility list that the council uses for appointments.

Some of the applicants interviewed last week are serving and seeking reappointment when their terms expire at the end of this month. Because they cannot be placed on the eligibility list while they are still seated, the list will be updated in January to add their names, said Council Clerk Sharon Lawrence.

Council is set to fill four seats on Tuesday because they are already vacant, the agenda said. The impacted boards, along with the citizen applicants on the eligibility list:

• County Transportation Authority: Gerald Alshefski, Joseph Jones, and Scott Letcher

• County Farmland Preservation Board: James Doran and Bruce Trumbower

• Forty Fort Airport Advisory Board: Joseph Jeffrey

• County Industrial Development Authority: Matthew Schuler

Election Board

The county’s volunteer, five-citizen Election Board will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the county courthouse.

This is the last scheduled meeting for board members Alyssa Fusaro, a Republican who serves as vice chair, and Daniel Schramm, a Democrat.

Neither sought reappointment, and the council must select a Republican and a Democrat to fill those seats in 2026.

With additions from last week’s interview session, the appointment eligibility list contains two citizens from each party: Republicans Roxanne Arreguin and Mark Robinson and Democrats Al Flora and Audrey Serniak.

A link to attend Wednesday’s Election Board meeting remotely will be posted in the council’s authorities/boards/commissions online meeting section at luzernecounty.org.