A year of departures, new faces, in Luzerne County leadership

From top management positions to council members, it’s been a year of departures in Luzerne County government.

It was a year in which voters sought widespread change at the county level, and the gender balance on the county bench became evenly split between men and women for the first time.

After five years as manager, C. David Pedri resigned in July. Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo was named acting manager, and the volunteer citizen Manager Search Committee is attempting to recommend qualified applicants to council for its consideration in April 2022.

Two county division head posts also are vacant. Prior administrative services division head David Parsnik abruptly resigned in September without stating a reason, and Operational Services Division Head Edmund O’Neill is leaving Jan. 14 to accept a private-sector position. Crocamo won’t be submitting new division head nominees to council for confirmation, saying the selections should be up to the next permanent manager.

Five of the 11 council members participated in their final meeting this month. Harry Haas and Linda McClosky Houck were not eligible to run for re-election again because they served the maximum three consecutive terms permitted under the county’s home rule charter. Sheila Saidman and Matthew Vough did not win re-election, and Walter Griffith is leaving council to serve as elected county controller.

A Republican, Griffith unseated incumbent Democrat Michelle Bednar in the Nov. 2 general election.

As part of a Republican sweep, county voters chose all five of the party’s council contenders in the November general: John Lombardo, Chris Perry (incumbent), Brian Thornton, Kevin Lescavage and Gregory Wolovich Jr.

They will serve with LeeAnn McDermott, Tim McGinley, Kendra Radle, Robert Schnee, Stephen J. Urban and the Republican council ends up selecting to fill Griffith’s seat.

McGinley will be the only Democrat remaining on council because Schnee has switched his registration from Democrat to Republican.

And this week two new county judges were sworn in, with Stefanie Salavantis and Tarah Toohil taking the oath on Wednesday following election victories in November. Their addition means that the bench is now comprised of five women and five men. Also on Wednesday, Sam Sanguedolce was sworn in as elected district attorney, his second swearing-in this year. Sanguedolce was elevated to the post in March after Salavantis left to run for judge. He officially won the seat, with no opposition, in November’s general election.

Election oversight

Leadership also changed in the county’s election bureau.

The election director position was open at the start of 2021 due to Shelby Watchilla’s departure. Bob Morgan became the new election director in April but left for other employment in October. Michael Susek was hired to fill the position earlier this month, with officials praising his 15 years of elections administration experience.

Also transformed was the volunteer citizen election board, which consists of four council-appointed members and a chairperson member selected by the board.

Past chair Jeanette Tait and board member Peter Ouellette resigned in February.

County council then swiftly removed then-board members Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt and Keith Gould after those two named Councilman Urban the new board chair against the solicitor’s repeated warning council members can’t serve on the board under the home rule charter.

At that point, the board was down to one member — Audrey Serniak — and unable to function.

Council appointed Richard Nardone, Kathryn Roth and Missy Thomas in March, and the board unanimously selected Denise Williams as the fifth member and chair in April. Thomas resigned in September due to other commitments, and council appointed Patrick Castellani in October.

The reorganized board has been credited with proactively addressing election issues and concerns.

Federal investigators announced in January they would not be filing criminal charges for a temporary election worker’s discarding of nine overseas military ballots before the prior year’s November 2020 general election. All nine ballots had been retrieved from a dumpster and tallied in the 2020 election results, and the seasonal worker was terminated, officials said.

This ballot incident was a main reason council formed an Election Inquiry Committee, which reviewed election protocols and procedures and made recommendations in 2021.

The county’s equipment from Dominion Voting Systems Inc. came under fire in the 2021 primary election when headers of Republican ballots on the electronic devices at polling places were incorrectly labeled as Democratic ones.

Dominion, which also is retained by the county to program ballots onto the devices, said human error at the company caused the data entry typographical mistake. The county administration also acknowledged it did not independently test the ballots after they were programmed into the machines, relying on the company to do that task.

Children and Youth

Prior county Children and Youth director Joanne Van Saun was terminated July 1 due to criminal charges filed against her.

Van Saun pleaded guilty in October to three misdemeanors related to her failure to investigate at least 217 reports alleging child abuse and neglect in 2017. She was sentenced to 34 months of probation for child endangerment and obstruction offenses, with the first nine months on house arrest, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

In response to the charges against Van Saun, the county retained Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP to conduct a still-ongoing internal investigation of the agency to determine if there is any evidence of possible wrongdoing. Crocamo said the Philadelphia law firm is expected to conclude its investigation in early 2022.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services announced in August it was downgrading the county’s Children and Youth agency to a provisional state license.

Coronavirus

After meeting virtually since March 2020, council restored in-person meetings in July. Council voted to keep the online remote option because it became familiar to residents during the pandemic and allows citizens throughout the large county to participate without having to travel to the courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.

In May, Pedri announced masks inside county facilities would be recommended but no longer required for those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, based on revised Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

Crocamo restored the mask requirement in August, regardless of vaccination status, due to rising coronavirus cases.