PureBunkum

Surely, our new Luzerne County Council would never hire a county manager who does not have his own financial affairs in order.

Having said that, we’ll reserve judgment on The Citizens’ Voice’s big scoop that the “preferred candidate” to manage the county is a management analyst from California.  The Voice also reported that another finalist is a former deputy county administrator from South Carolina whom was fired from his job.

The council members, who have remained mum on the finalists for this very important and powerful position, have said that the top three candidates are all top notch.  So we all need to wait for more information because, frankly, the Voice’s article was cause for a little concern.

The “preferred candidate,” according to the Voice’s anonymous sources is Robert Lawton, a principal management analyst for Solano County in central California.  Sounds good so far, but then county Controller Walter Griffith stepped in and burst our balloon.

Walter told the Voice that Lawton told him that not only was he a finalist but that he also had problems making mortgage payments on properties he owned.

Why in the world would anyone vying for the top management job in Luzerne County reveal that he can’t make his own mortgage payments to someone not even on the selection committee? Did he mention this to the incoming council members or just to Walter?

Griffith said he’s not saying Mr. Lawton isn’t qualified, just that he didn’t “know the history of his foreclosure,” noting that he ”would be in charge of a $121 million budget.”

Who said anything about foreclosures?

Griffith also expressed concern that Mr. Lawton may be unable to obtain bonding from an insurer.  To that we say, if that minor detail doesn’t concern the council, maybe Walter should take a chill pill.

Transition committee Chairman Jim Bobeck responded that Griffith’s comments were “a mischaracterization of information.”  If that is true, Griffith has done a disservice to the Citizens Voice’s readers by spreading innuendo and to Mr. Lawton himself. 

Frankly, it’s hard to imagine that the incoming council, whose every move will be watched, would botch up its first critical duty.

Then again, who can forget the time the county commissioners trumpeted its hiring of a new human resources director, whom The Times Leader later outed as a shop lifter?

Well, at least for now, the county seems to be in good hands with the interim appointment of former county budget and finance chief, Tom Pribula.

Let’s hope that we can say the same about the permanent appointee.

- Betty Roccograndi

A mixed bag to be sure.

With all the pressure, tension, hurt feelings, stepped on toes, screaming and tired kids, sheer exhaustion, getting through the holidays in one piece, physically and emotionally, is a challenge indeed.  I doubt that anyone would disagree.

Being a rather private person, I’ll keep most of my Christmas memories this year to myself.

But I just heard a very, very funny story that can be shared since I won’t in any way identify the person who provided me with a much needed post Christmas chuckle.

He, like the fortunate among us, shared Christmas with a big family.  Joining them this year was his brother’s new wife.  The problem is the brother never told anyone he was getting married – for the third time to his long-time girlfriend.  What better way to break such festive news than on Christmas Eve.

Well, maybe not.

Of course, everyone was stunned – especially his children from previous marriages.  One of the daughters, whom we’ll call Holly, didn’t take too kindly to being kept in the dark about a pretty important family matter.

Needless to say, Holly, who is a newlywed, wasn’t exactly filled with mirth at the unexpected news of Dad’s nuptials.  And we’re guessing that her new husband was a bit surprised at his wife’s reaction when she pouted and said, ”The next time I get married, I’m not telling anybody.”

You have to admit, that’s pretty funny, although the new husband may still be wondering if his days of marital bliss are numbered.

Okay, I’ll share one family story with  you only because I don’t believe my nephew-in-law will mind, especially if I give him a plug.  He’s former Pepperjam CEO Kris Jones, who now partners witih The Scranton Times offering deals on Refer/Local.  And since Kris is not one to dodge the limelight, I’m sure he’s okay with Pure Bunkum readers hearing how he surprised his wife on Christmas.

You have to hand it to Kris, he’s quite ingenious.  I would have guessed that my  niece, Robyn, would have opened an expensive piece of jewelry or trip tickets to some exotic island.  But that’s too mundane.

Nope, Kris arranged for Robyn to be the guest chef tonight at Mohegan Sun’s Rustic Kitchen.  With the assistance of the restaurant’s chefs, Robyn, with the cameras rolling, will orchestrate a lavish dinner for 15 of her friends.  It won’t be broadcast, but she’ll receive the videotape of “Cooking With Robyn,” which is the next best thing to actually experiencing what it’s like to be Rachel Ray or Paula Deen.

So, good for you, Kris, for coming up with a real surprise, even though it meant my sister having to cancel her holiday party because of it, and now I have to fend for myself tonight.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas – and lived to tell the tale.

- Betty Roccograndi

I didn’t do anything wrong, but here’s $17.75 million anyway.

Now Go Away!  I have more industrial parks to build in my KOZ developments.

Wheeler-dealer Robert Mericle has agreed to pay a whopping $17.75 million to juveniles who were sent to the detention center his company built and to some who were not.  The kids’ parents and lawyers will also line up for their cuts of the princely pie.

Actually, any juvie who was dragged into the dungeon of former Luzerne County tough love judge, Mark Ciavarella, can file a claim even if he or she didn’t sue anybody or land in detention.  The sheer terror of being in Ciavarella’s presence anytime between Jan. 1, 2003 and May 28, 2008 is enough to entitle them to dig into Mericle’s deep pockets.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

According to the tentative settlement,  Mericle does not admit to any wrongding.  He just thought handing over $17.75 million would be a nice thing to do at this festive time of the year.  And anyone who volunteers to give two county judges almost $2 million for helping him land a contract could well afford it.  So don’t cry for Mericle, Luzerne County.

“It’s so important for the young people of Luzerne County to see that the rich and powerful are not, in the end, above the law,”  said one parent whose then 16-year-old daughter was sent to detention for three months for possessing marijuana.

Might we add that it’s also very important for the county’s young people to see that in the end, crime really does pay.  These little angels didn’t find themselves in juvenile court for selling Girl Scout cookies, now did they?

Said Barry Dyller, one of the lucky lawyers who had the foresight to seek out these kids, ”We are pleased to get this settlement and are thrilled for the kids.  (Not to mention being giddy with delight over our own good fortune.)  Dyller is married to incoming Luzerne County Judge Lesa Gelb.

The poor saps who don’t have Mericle’s millions and who still must face off against the juvenile delinquents in civil court include Ciavarella and his partner in crime, former judge Michael Conahan; and Robert Powell, former co-owner of the  two “Kids for Cash” detention centers.

Attorneys estimate there are 2,400 juveniles and parents eligible to claim a reward, The Times Leader reported Saturday.  The paper on Sunday said lawyers will divvy up $5.3 million.

Now a federal judge must accept Mericle’s offer.  If any person disagrees with the amount of money a claims committee rewards him and decides to go after Mericle on his own, all bets could be off.

The TL says that the agreement allows Mericle to withdraw if he believes that such a scenario would put him at an “unacceptably high” financial risk.  As opposed to the acceptably low financial risk of $17.75 million?

Next up:  Robert Mericle agrees to pay the U.S. Attorneys’s Office $25 million for keeping him out of  prison when he’s eventually sentenced for failing to disclose that he knew that two corrupt Luzerne County judges were up to no good.  But, he’ll admit to no wrongdoing.

- Betty Roccograndi

This is indeed very welcome news.

The incoming members of our very first Luzerne County council are enthused with the caliber of applicants for our very first county manager.

The best comment, by far, was from one candidate who is viewing this job as a World Series opportunity to reform our county.  And after what we’ve just gone through, we need someone with that mindset.

Is it really possible that we are about to turn a corner? That the days of no-bid contracts, cronyism, political hirings are coming to an end?

Is there such a thing as Home Rule for school boards?  If only there were.

It’s incredible that one doesn’t even need a high school diploma to run and get elected to a school board.  They’re nothing more than popularity contests as are elections for district justices.  Take a look around at the credentials of some of our county’s district justices.  We address them as your honor, and most of them don’t even have law degrees.

Well, at least the county seems to be heading in the right direction.

But in all seriousness, something has to be done to abolish the school board system. Some of these yahoos should not be hiring teachers and making, in some cases,  million dollar decisions when they’re not smart enough to run a lemonade stand, like that adorable Suzy in those Verizon commercials.

- Betty Roccograndi

The good news is Wilkes-Barre Township plans to enact measures to account for the $100,000 it donates each year to the township fire department.

The bad news is it might be $15,506 too late.

Township Fire Chief John Paul Yuknavich was arrested Tuesday for allegedly stealing $11,800 from a public safety bureau account and going on a spending spree at Sam’s Club and charging $3,706 of personal items on a township credit card.

The arrest followed the issuance of a one-year restraining order against him and pending charges on drunken driving.

How Yuknavich remained fire chief for as long as he did is beyond me.  His brushes with the law go back to 1998 for crying out loud.  The Times Leader’s time line said that following a ruckus in the township fire hall, Yuknavich and firefighter Walter Halecki were found guilty of harassing each other 13 years ago.

In another, more disturbing,  incident, he plead guilty to violating a protection from abuse order his own daughter obtained against him, the TL reported.

Last month, he was charged with threatening to shoot his former girlfriend in the head.  She filed a protection from abuse order against him.  Hopefully, he’ll stay clear of her.  She might want to consider hiring a bodyguard.  Clearly, if all of this is true, this man is out of control and should not be  chief of anything let alone a department relating to public safety.

Surprised that Yuknavich was charged with stealing, township Mayor Carl Kuren said the township might start requiring receipts, the Citizens’ Voice reported.

Might start?  Is he for real?  Who gives someone $100,000 a year and doesn’t require any documentation on how it was spent?  Oh, he probably didn’t realize it was taxpayers’ money.

And how can Kuren or anyone running Wilkes-Barre Twp. be surprised when police began investigating suspected financial irregularities in its volunteer fire department in 2008.  The CV article said Yuknavich had refused to release department financial records.

Maybe there were none.  It’s only now that Kuren said receipts might be required in the future.  He also said that if the township wants to have more control over employees in trouble with the law, it would have to negotiate a better contract with them.  He told the Voice that legal issues were not grounds for termination unless job performance was affected.

So does that  mean that if a township employee robs a bank, he can still work for the township as long as he shows up on time to shovel snow or clean the streets?

Yep, while they’re drafting those new accountability measures, township officials might also want to take a second look at those labor contractss and make a few changes.

- Betty Roccograndi

Yea, no tax increase.  For now, anyway.

In a heroic move Friday, the lame duck Luzerne County Commissioners decided to let the new part-time county council decide whether to hike property taxes or lay off 150 courthouse employees.  At an estimated cost of $50,000 per employee, the commissioners figured that’s how many need to go to balance the budget.

You may be wondering why county commissioners, past and present, didn’t make the tough decisions before, instead of plunging us into a half-billion dollars in debt.

It’s very simple, they wanted to get re-elected, and laying off politically-connected employees and infuriating their benefactors wasn’t the way to do that.  Then there was that $58-million lease for a privately-owned juvenile detention center and paying Thom Greco a handsome $5.8  million for his Market Street train wreck and spending over $1 million to The Little Red Wagon to store records, which now must be stored elsewhere because we learned that pigeons may have been roosting among the valuable historic documents.

But now as they leave office on the eve of a Home Rule government takeover, our elected officials decide to get lean and mean and slash $3.5 million from next year’s budget because there is  no corresponding incoming revenue.  Of course, we’re grateful for this because that’s the responsible  way to run a business, whose shareholders are its taxpayers.

We’re just wondering why we weren’t considered in the past when the commissioners, past and present, spent our money like it grew on trees.  It was so much easier to keep on borrowing than to gradually cut costs when they were needed.

County commissioners Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said she’s very worried about the budget and that “taxpayers can’t afford another tax increase.”  No arguments there.  She also said that “revenue must dictate expenses.”  No kidding.  If commissioners, past and present, lived by that dictum over the years, we wouldn’t be in the  fix we’re in now.

What will Steve Urban do, we wonder, when he joins the council or becomes the new county manager?  He hasn’t said he’s running for the top spot, but we’re guessing he’d like to have it.  As long as it doesn’t go to former county commissioners, Todd Vonderheid or Greg Skrepenak, who’s probably due to get out of prison soon.

The commissioners did not include in the budget a hoped-for bounty of millions of dollars if the sale of a Triple-A baseball franchise goes through or if the former Valley Crest Nursing Home is sold or if Donald Trump drops by and decides to buy the demolished Hotel Sterling site.

I know they’ll be some who disagree with me, especially county Prothonotary Carolee Medico who believes Petrilla is a vindictive witch for slashing her budget, but I believe that Petrilla really tried to help the county.  Maybe not while she was county controller but after she split with Skrepenak and became chairwoman.

I still wonder to this day how she and her team got us out of that monstrous juvie lease.  If they didn’t, county taxpayers would have been stuck with that obscene contract for another 15 years.

As for Urban, thank goodness he was there protesting some of the reckless decisions of Skrepenak and Vonderheid.  He’ll make a fine council member.  Tom Cooney seemed to be a serious leader also, and county residents should be grateful for his service.

So now we’re venturing into uncharted waters with Home Rule, and we can only hope our new leaders will run the county like the multi-million dollar business that it is.

To think what we could be spending $4.2 million on instead of for our 2012 debt repayment installment.

- Betty Roccograndi