Two plans proposed to transition Luzerne County Council from 11 to seven

Two plans have been proposed to transition Luzerne County Council from 11 to seven members if voters adopt a revised home rule charter in November.

The county’s government study commission, which is drafting the document, discussed both options Monday and plans to vote on its recommendation Thursday.

Commission Vice Chairman Vito Malacari also continues urging his fellow members to reconsider a cut to seven, saying the sizeable shrinking will decrease citizen representation and concentrate more power in fewer hands.

Commission member Stephen J. Urban proposed the first option to get to seven by January 2030.

Specifically, voters would select four council members instead of six in 2027 and choose three instead of five in 2029. With this plan, council would be reduced to nine at the start of 2028 and then seven at the beginning of 2030.

Malacari suggested an alternative Monday to still elect six council members in 2027 but provide four-year seats to the top highest vote-getters and two-year seats to the candidates with the fifth and sixth highest vote tallies. In the 2029 election, voters would choose three council members instead of five. That reduction and the expiration of the two-year seats would bring council to seven members at the start of 2030.

His plan would keep council at 11 members until it is cut to seven in 2030.

This plan to get council to seven must be included in Article 12, which covers the transition directives and is the last section that must be approved by the commission.

Commission Chairman Ted Ritsick asked members if they had any lingering issues they want to address regarding the other provisions approved to date.

Ritsick said he’d like to vote on the draft as a whole before a required public hearing is held on June 17. He described the draft as the commission’s “first crack” at revisions, saying the commission is permitted to make changes after the hearing based on public feedback.

Commission member Mark Shaffer reiterated complaints about three recommendations he believes would “sink” the charter, involving the ethics commission, election board and resetting of incumbent terms in calculating a term limit for elected officials.

A commission majority agreed to require council to keep an ethics commission and code. Council would have to vote within nine months to either ratify or amend the existing ethics code. The existing ethics commission structure would remain in effect if council does not approve a new composition. The commission is composed of the county district attorney, manager, controller and two council-appointed citizens (one Democrat and one Republican).

The commission’s election board recommendation would give council authority to determine if the five-person county election board should remain composed of five citizen volunteers. Supporters of the proposal reason that council must have flexibility to change from an all-volunteer board if the board’s powers must increase to comply with state election law, which could include authority to hire the election director, choose the voting system and prepare annual election budgets.

A commission majority also decided to keep the three-term limit in the current charter but provide a clean slate to incumbents by not counting terms prior to the new charter’s effective date toward the three-term limit. This would apply to council, the district attorney and controller.

Shaffer maintained the commission is “putting too many things on county council” and trying to “shirk our duties” and “avoid confrontation.”

He predicted the election board recommendation would prompt a coordinated campaign urging a no vote on the proposed charter.

Commission Treasurer Cindy Malkemes concurred and also pointed to concerns that have been raised about reducing the size of council.

After lengthy debate, the possibility was raised that the commission may consider requiring citizen involvement in council’s ethics code review and other partial compromise adjustments.

Malacari said he believes the proposed charter forces council — the legislative body — to resolve issues with the ethics code and election board’s compliance with election law.

Ritsick said five council seats will be filled in November, when the proposed charter is on the ballot, making it essential that voters choose candidates who will rise to the challenge of addressing these matters.

Ritsick also said he wants to provide council with latitude to make more decisions as needed so they don’t have to convene another study commission to address problems.

Thursday’s meeting is at 6 p.m. in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions to attend remotely will be posted under council’s online meeting section (scroll down) at luzernecounty.org.