A majority of Luzerne County voters voted in favor of creating a seven-member commission to study the government structure and make potential changes. The unofficial primary election results from Tuesday showed this.
The voters picked the following candidates to be on the panel. These include three former county council members:
• Cindy Malkemes, who is an academic counselor and associate professor at Luzerne County Community College in Dallas Township.
• Vito Malacari, a government teacher at a high school in Hanover Township.
• Mark Shaffer, a research analyst at The Institute in Wilkes-Barre.
• Stephen J. Urban, an IT support coordinator for a major food distributor and a former county council member living in Kingston.
• Ted Ritsick, a professional planner and a previous member of the county’s Wyoming Valley Airport Advisory Board from Forty Fort.
• Timothy McGinley, a member of the Wyoming Valley West School Board and retired nonprofit administration director from Kingston.
• Matt Mitchell, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Coordinator at the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority from Plains Township.
The commission will have nine months to present findings and recommendations, and an additional nine months if it chooses to prepare and propose government changes. An extra two months is allowed if the commission recommends district-based council elections instead of at-large.
Any recommendation from the commission must be approved by the voters to take effect.
The commission could suggest changes to the existing charter, a completely new charter, or a return to the previous three-commissioner/row officer structure that was replaced by home rule in 2012.
However, all 17 study commission candidates stated that they were not supporting a return to the old commissioner system.
Election Results
With all 186 precincts reporting, the vote count was 31,469 in favor of the study commission referendum and 14,833 against, which means it passed with approximately 68% of the votes.
The unofficial vote count for the seven who secured commission seats: Malkemes, 22,416; Malacari, 20,153; Shaffer, 19,562; Urban, 19,432; Ritsick, 18,059; McGinley, 15,005; and Mitchell, 13,829.
The unofficial results for the remaining 10 candidates: Alisha Hoffman-Mirilovich, Fairview Township, 12,153; Charles Sciandra, Duryea, 11,684; Andy Wilczak, Wright Township, 11,331; Claudia Glennan, Salem Township, 10,620; Mark Rabo, Hazleton, 10,500; Tom Bassett, Pittston, 10,218; Dave Chaump, West Pittston, 10,397; Sandra DeBias, Hazle Township, 9,221; Vivian Kreidler-Licina, Nescopeck Township, 8,072; and Fermin Diaz, West Hazleton, 6,402.
At least two groups of candidates campaigned together as a team.
One was a seven-member “Unity for Our Community” slate with three winning seats — Malkemes, Malacari, and Shaffer — along with Hoffman-Mirilovich, Wilczak, Diaz, and Glennan.
The other group of five candidates consisted of DeBias, Sciandra, Ritsick, Mitchell, and McGinley, with the latter three being chosen by voters. This group’s supporters included county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce, who urged voters to support the study commission question and the “bipartisan team of experienced, common-sense candidates” in a recent text message sent out by the DA’s campaign committee.
Repeating Sanguedolce's statements from public meetings, his campaign committee's message stated that the charter contradicts the Pennsylvania Constitution and conflicts with state law in many places, which causes chaos in our government.
Sanguedolce had publicly urged council to approve the referendum last summer. He praised charter drafters for creating a new form of government from scratch but mentioned that some charter provisions conflict with state law, leading to confusion and potential legal disputes.
The charter includes a crucial disclaimer that raises many questions about interpretation, stating that its provisions apply "except where applicable law prevents a home rule charter from superseding state law." The county law office is regularly responsible for giving an opinion on how to proceed.
On Tuesday, Sanguedolce expressed satisfaction with the passage of the referendum.
"Over the last 12 years, it has become clear that the charter has some flaws that need to be addressed, and I believe a government study commission, with assistance from county management, will be able to correct them," the DA said.
A majority of the council authorized the study commission ballot question in October, with several council members stating that they are unable to make significant changes due to the law's requirement to form a study commission.
Being cautiously optimistic
Council Chairman John Lombardo has identified clearing up language ambiguity as a priority to be addressed by the commission.
"I'm obviously pleased that the referendum passed because we urgently need to revise our charter, and this is the most effective approach to do so," Lombardo said.
Lombardo stated that the success of the commission will depend on those elected.
"I'm pleased to see that several people on the commission have the experience and knowledge of the charter to actively fix the flaws rather than pushing an ideology unrelated to county government," Lombardo said.
County Controller Walter Griffith supported the activation of a commission but mentioned that its success depended on the mix of citizens elected to serve.
"Hopefully, voters chose the right people to correct it," he said.
Griffith agreed that the "vagueness in the charter" should be eliminated to reduce reliance on the county law office's guidance, and he wants the commission to address persistent conflicts over the county election board's powers.
"I certainly hope we have seven people interested in correcting the government currently in place and not changing it radically," Griffith said. "Some parts of the current charter work, and some don't."
Griffith pointed out that the county will need to spend money for them to do their work.
The county's last 11-citizen study commission held weekly meetings — broadcasted online with public input sought at each — between June and December 2009, when it decided to proceed to draft a proposed charter.
It released a final report and recommended charter in August 2010, which was approved by voters in the November 2010 general election.
The commission hired a solicitor and the Pennsylvania Economy League as a consultant for assistance.
