Luzerne County manager highlights recent election in council update

Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo highlighted the success of the May 19 primary election during last week’s County Council meeting and said enhancements are underway to improve the paper ballot voting experience at county polling places.

Voters marked their selections on paper ballots rather than touchscreen ballot-marking devices as part of the switch to new leased voting equipment from Hart InterCivic that took effect in the primary. Voters fed the ballots into a tabulator to be cast, as they did with the past ballot-marking device printouts.

Crocamo said the county received positive feedback from poll workers about the new equipment, including that it was easier to set up. She said she was at the election bureau all day and said the phones were not ringing, describing it as a “beautiful sound.”

Regarding improvements, Crocamo said the county will obtain privacy booths with higher sides so voters are more assured that others cannot see their selections.

She is also looking into magnifying aids that could be on hand in case voters have issues reading the print.

Correctional division head

Crocamo said she has interviewed four applicants for the correctional services division head position and expects to submit a nominee for proposed confirmation at council’s June 23 meeting.

County Prison Sergeant Stanley Fiedorczyk has served as interim division head since James Wilbur resigned in March.

Red Cross

Council last week approved an agreement to purchase the American Red Cross Blood and Platelet Donation Center property on New Commerce Boulevard in Hanover Township for $1.75 million to house the county’s Emergency Management Agency.

County administrators pursued the property because it was recently listed for sale and is located across from the county’s 911 center and adjacent to the county record storage facility. The 60,880-square-foot American Red Cross property is on a 7.4-acre parcel.

Crocamo told council there are no major roof repairs necessary, and the county’s outside engineer is performing other due diligence. Council members had been invited to tour the structure.

Opioid earmark

Council also approved a $341,600 opioid settlement fund allocation to Endless Mountains Extended Care LLC for a recovery housing and reentry program serving 14 occupants of a licensed sober living facility in Dalton.

The county’s Commission on Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement voted last month to recommend the earmark to council, which has the final say.

Endless Mountains operator Arianne E. Scheller told the commission the program is based in neighboring Lackawanna County but serves Northeast Pennsylvania residents, including a high percentage from Luzerne County.

Statue cleaning

The county will use $3,150 of its Marcellus Shale natural-gas recreation funding to clean several monuments on the county courthouse’s south lawn before July 4, council decided.

Council’s Act 13 Committee, which oversees this funding, recommended the monument cleaning. Hanover Township-based St. Mary’s Monument Co. submitted a proposal to complete the work.

Board interviews

Council’s Authorities, Boards and Commissions Committee is set to publicly interview citizen applicants at 6 p.m. Thursday in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Instructions for the remote attendance option will be posted on council’s online meeting section at luzernecounty.org.

Applications to serve on county boards are available in council’s authorities, boards, and commissions section at luzernecounty.org.