County Council - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress.

Okay, everybody. It's 5:55 p.m. I'd like to call the first public hearing to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisible. standing for a moment of silence for our uh veterans in observance of Veterans Day and also for uh Rich Roman from Pendot District 4 who passed away suddenly this past week and was a a great friend to lose our county.

Thank you. Okay, roll call, please. Miss Lawrence, Mr. H here. Miss Krishnowski here. Mr. Luscavage. Miss McDermott here. Mr. Perry here. Mr. Sabatino here. Miss Smith. Miss Stevenson here. Mr. Thornton here. Mr. Wovich here. Mr. Lombardo here. You have nine of 11.

Thank you. He will now have public comment on the proposed ordinance amending the 2025 fiscal year budget for Luzar County for the derivative payment. Mr. Griffith, [clears throat] good evening council. Uh the only concern for amending the budget is I still believe that the charter clearly gives that power to council. to introduce these ordinances to amend the budget. Uh section 510 of the of the charter says about amending the loser the loser and county budget and that's a power of counsel. So there should be four votes to introduce that ordinance as well as the vote to pass the ordinance. So that's my objection to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Griffith. Anybody else for public comment? Is there a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn. All in favor? Opposed meeting adjourned I'll call the second public hearing to order. We already had the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. Roll call. Miss Lawrence Mr. Hos here. Miss Krishnowski here. Mr. Lisgavage. [clears throat] Mr. Lombardo here. That's okay. Miss McDermott here. Mr. Perry here. Mr. Sabatino here. Miss Smith. Miss Stevenson present. Mr. Thornton here. And I just want to let you know Mr. Luscavage is in Wisconsin.

Thank you. Mr. Lovich here. Mr. Lombardo here. 9 of 11. All right. Thank you. We will now have public comment on the proposed ordinance pursuant to act 48 of 2024 establishing a county demolition rehabilitation fund and imposing a fee to be collected by the Luzar County Tax Claim Bureau or its agents for the purchasers at sales under the real estate tax sale law and by the Luzar County Sheriff from judicial sales in mortgage foreclosure actions. Mr. Griffith.

Um, on that ordinance, I have the same objection obviously that the uh the wasn't properly introduced. But the other part the other part of it is this is a fee that we're imposing on the people of the county or anybody who buys a property. So, that's even more of a violation. It should have been introduced by four members of council. But the other issue that I have is it says it's effective February 15, 2026. in section three and section four says the directive says effective as of March 1st 2025. So should that be 2026 becomes effective or is this a retroactive ordinance? But my biggest my only my concern is obviously if this is a February 15th 2026 ordinance, why is this council doing it? Why shouldn't we wait for the new council to come in and do this ordinance for this fee? the new council that comes in may not want to charge a $100 fee for the demolition and uh rehabilitation fund. They may not. So, we're we're jumping elected council. So, those are my objections. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Griffith. Um we have a hand up on the Zoom. Uh Mr. I think it's Mr. Rabbo. Sorry if I I don't know if I called you at the last if your hand was up before. Mr. Chairman, this is Mark Rabbo Hazelton speaking. Can you hear me?

Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With regards to this uh this fee, as you and probably most of the county knows how I feel about blight and the need for loser county to tackle blight, the county manager knows all too well. Everybody that has ever uh sat with me in a redevelopment authority meeting, blighted property review committee meeting in the city of Hazelton and in Luzern County knows how I feel about this issue. and even uh the Pittston mayor knows how I feel about this issue. So I can attest to and also my service on the state task force since 2012. So I'm well aware of these uh these these uh statutes these the legislation that comes through uh our state legislature and gets signed into law. So Mr. Chairman uh back in 2017 the council uh uh lobbyed by Mr. Mr. pause uh brought the um the fee which was $15 which was act 48 or excuse me uh act 152 of 2016 which would have levied a $15 uh fee on the on the any kind of transaction from the recorder of deeds [snorts] uh you know levied for a property transfer. This one is very different, Mr. share because this one's $100 and this can go up to $250 and this this I I'm very concerned about this becoming a slush fund not a blighted not a demolition fund. So in that respect and also to answer the controllers's question on how uh when it takes effect under the law under the u the statute the state statute it says 90 days it's supposed to take effect. Now I don't see that in the ordinance. Maybe Mr. Sche could correct me if I'm wrong,

but that should be placed in the ordinance that it has to take effect 90 days after approval uh by this council [clears throat] because that is in the state statute. So, I would I would suggest if it's not in there that you or somebody a member of council put the amendment in there uh to make it clear because uh to comply with state state statute. Um so, Mr. Chair, uh, one question I have is, is this going to be the sheriff that manages this fund or the director or is it going to be the, uh, tax, uh, claim bureau, uh, Elite Revenue that manages this fund? Uh, that's all I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Rabbo. Anybody else for public comment? Is there a motion to adjurnn? Oh, oh, go ahead. Attorney Scheme. So the sheriff could probably speak to this, but Oh,

sheriff could probably speak to this, but we have um the provision in here is it's effective February 15th of 26 because we have to wait 90 days. So from now until then, it'll be 90 days for it to be effective. And the March date is uh I think the statute um enactment time, which it could it would have to be within. So if you did it there was an act, you'd have to wait 90 days. So, we are waiting 90 days based upon the dates that are in this ordinance. [clears throat] Okay. All right. Thank you. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Motion. All in favor?

Opposed? Public hearings adjourned. It is 6:03 p.m. I'd like to call the voting session to order. We've already had the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. Roll call. Miss Lawrence. Mr. Haw here. Miss Krishnowski here. Mr. Lavage, Miss McDermott here, Mr. Perry here, Mr. Sabatino here, Miss Smith, Miss Stevenson here, Mr. Thornton, I am here. Mr. Lavage is still in Wisconsin. Mr. President, Mr. Lombardo here. I have 11. All right. Thank you. Before we go any further, attorney Scheme, can you please announce the executive session?

Yes. Prior to this meeting, we had an executive session concerning the appointment of a division head. It was an executive session because it's a personnel matter. And [clears throat] during that time, we also discussed a litigation matter where we could settle a case from the prison. And uh we will have a meeting at the next meeting we will be able to have a resolution to do so. All right. Thank you, Attorney Scheme. We do have one uh ceremonial proclamation for the Plymouth Christian Church 200th anniversary. Whereas the 12th day of November, 2025 will mark the 200th anniversary of the organization of the Plymouth Christian Church of Plymouth, Pennsylvania. And whereas on November 12th, 1825, the Plymouth Christian Church was chartered and since has provided spiritual strength as well as compassionate service for the Plymouth community, demonstrating an example of its teachings during its 200 years of existence. Whereas lauded as the oldest church in Plymouth and the oldest Protestant denomination to have originated in the United States, the Plymouth Christian Church became affiliated with the Christian Church in 1850. It has become home to numerous Girl Scout of USA troops and supports numerous service projects within the community, including serving meals at the WB Rescue Mission, packing gift boxes for Operation Christmas Child, ringing bells for the Salvation Army during the holiday season, participating in Super Bowl Sunday, supplying a miscellaneous supply pantry for those in need, collecting donations for the Plymouth Food Bank those in need. The members of the Plymouth Christian Church have enjoyed a long history of service to God and their fellow citizens. The church has been blessed with ministers and lay people who strive to live in a manner that gives testimony to their spiritual beliefs. Their faith, determination, generosity, and stewardship have enabled the church to become a vital and inspiring presence in the community. Now therefore, we the Luzern County Council do uh heartily congratulate the Plymouth Christian Church upon the joyous

celebration of its 200th anniversary and offer best wishes for a continued tradition of devoted service to God and humanity. [applause] Is there individuals here from the church that WANT you want to say a few words? You don't have to if you don't want to. Okay. All right. Thank you very much and congratulations on your anniversary. Okay. Any deletions from the voting session agenda? Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Second. All in favor?

Opposed? Agenda is adopted. We'll now have public comment on voting session agenda items only. I do have a few slips up here that are labeled for the uh tenor health discussion. So, they will be called up at the end of the voting session meeting. Um, I do have one for a mic Tedesco. Tener Hill.

Tener. Okay. Tener. Okay. Great. All right. Uh, Mr. Griffith. [clears throat] Agenda item number six is one I want to comment on regarding the service electric contract. I strongly urge this council to not accept that contract and to not use service electric after the end of the year only because I don't think it's a service that we actually need in the county right now. when they were originally brought in here, it was because we had no ability to broadcast the the meetings as well as make the public aware of what was happening in these council meetings. Since then, through the help of the county manager and the council, we've propo we've had enough money provided to put this room together. We have cameras as you could see and we have a good sound system and our and our audios are all put up online for all the meetings not only council meetings for in the interest of transparency we do do that. Uh all authority boards and commission meetings that are held are put up online audio. The video obviously is not up online but service electric doesn't service the entire county. They only service a certain section of the county. And I I do understand that we do put some of the video up on YouTube as well, but if you have the ability to get YouTube, then that's fine. But if you don't, you still can't see the video. I think what's most important is that we put the audio online for people who haven't had the ability to attend the meeting to could actually listen to the meeting, analyze it against the minutes that are adopted by council, and it's transparent as they could see it online through the Zoom platform which we provide. That's plenty. I think the ability for us to have a service electric contract and puts the county in a position where we possibly could be sued for something. We could obviously have issues according to the contract. There's some some language in the contract that I'm really concerned about in that we can't touch any of their equipment, but they can

touch ours. There's provisions in there that they can sue they can they can sue us, but we can't sue them. So, we we really need to be very very careful about that contract. And I strongly think that we don't need it anyway. So, let's just eliminate it all together and let the county IT department handle it. I think that's the best way to do it. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Griffith. Anybody else in the audience for public comment? Agenda items only. Anybody on the Zoom? Mr. Rabbo, Mr. Chairman, this is Mark Rabo of Hazington speaking. Can you hear me? Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh with regards to the Broad Street Exchange building, my question is uh is this going to be a bid where uh any um any uh any investor or any kind of any person with the means to buy the building can buy it. And also is this going to be uh is are the uh leans going to be respected? I know that the county is a primary lean holder of about 1.3 or $1.4 4 million, but also the city of Hazelton is a secondary lean holder, which is owed about I think about $290,000 if I'm not mistaken uh from from that uh from that uh building from the lean on that building uh that the county is the primary lean holder of. So, I wanted to know if uh that would be respected uh once that building is uh sold to the whoever the bidder, the winning bidder is. Uh, also with regards to the um operation service division head, I respect Michelle Sparish, I have great things to say about her grant writing ability and also her ability to procure grants and uh and also in her time at uh the community development office, but I don't know if uh she meets all the qualifications as an operation service division head uh entails for infrastructure. I think uh there would be uh a lot more uh credentials needed for that position and as well as commiserate to the salary that's being offered. I don't know if uh that uh salary is commiserate with the uh credentials and experience necessary to run that division. I mean if it was uh administrative services division edge uh that would be a different story alto together but uh this is operational services roads and bridges uh building and grounds all the county

owned properties that's that's quite a task so I think Mr. Chairman you and the council members need to do the due diligence to see if the salary is commiserate with the experience and the qualifications uh for that position. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Rabbo. Anybody else for public comment? All right. Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the October 28th, 2025 voting session? So moved. Second. All in favor? Opposed. All right. Minutes are adopted. Moving on to the agenda number one. Motion to adopt the resolution approving the allocation of opioid settlement proceeds to Dr. Jeff Lewis. So moved. Second.

Motion and a second. Roll call. Mr. Hos, yes. Miss Kishnowski, no. Miss McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry, no. Mr. Savatino, no. Miss Stevenson? No. Mr. Thornton? No. Mr. Willish? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Uh, no. So, we have six no and three yes fails. All right. Thank you.

I I know we already voted on that, but I do have a question. I probably should have said on the question with the amount of money that we have going out with the opioid. This money has to be spent by the end of the year. Correct. Is always a fiscal year. Uh, no. No. No. Okay. All right. Thank you. Yeah. There are different dates for the different pots of money as we receive them. Um I'm not sure when this specific one I think it's 20. Yeah, it's in 26. What what month? I'm can't remember the specific date for this particular pot of money, but June. Okay. June. June. Okay. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Yep. Okay. All right. It doesn't have to be spent. It has to be allocated.

Yes. Okay. All right. All right. Number two, motion to adopt the ordinance amending the 2025 fiscal year budget for Luzern County for the derivative payment. So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Roll call. Miss Kishnowski. Yes. Miss McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry. Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Willovich? Yes. Mr. Hos? Yes. Mr. Lombardo. Yes. Unanimous.

Number three. Motion to adopt the ordinance establish a county demolition and rehabilitation fund imposing a fee to be collected by the Luzar County Tax Tax Claim Bureau or its agents from purchasers at sales under the real estate tax sale law and by the Luzar County Sheriff from judicial sales in mortgage foreclosure actions. So moved. Second. Motion and a second on the question. Go ahead. Um, so I believe it was controller Griffith who asked the question or maybe it was Mark Rabo, but who will be in charge of overseeing that fund account? Um, manager

Cookamo says it in the title that it's going to be collected by uh our agents and it will be budget and finance and finance. Thank you. Okay. All right. On the question, Mr. Chair, go ahead, Mr. House.

Yeah, like Mr. said before, I I really supported this a few years ago in a form of this. Uh blight was a severe issue. It's still an issue today. And we had the blighted property review committee that was tasked with actually evaluating the properties that were bled and the it was it was a a record that followed due process um with property rights because even though a lot of these properties are derelict and they're the result of of bad citizenship in many cases, it's still it's still very important to value people's property rights. Everything we do hinges on that. So something like this I I I I enjoy the spirit of it because people at that time were always wondering what can be done about these delinquent these derelic properties that are really a problem in the neighborhoods and that demolition fund would have had had funds there and through [clears throat] through the memorializing of the BL property review committee it it had a process and then we had the the redevelopment authority could therefore take action. This I don't think we have the process right now. I'm looking at um what what um Britney just asked about. Uh section five, it's on page 28, everybody. Section five, section A. So, the funds are collected by the by the tax bureau office and then it's they're going to it's going to be promptly deposited by the loser county treasur. I like that. So, the the treasures department is tasked with putting this in an interestbearing bank account. That makes a lot of sense. But then section D down below it says this council and I like that. I like the control of council. We are the elected body. It can approve funds deposit and maintained in the county demolition rehabilitation fund by a nonprofit or a for-profit by a cooperation as a contract with the county with any tax industry authority land bank other government Andy anything like that. So it's very general which I also like that. However I see where this is going to go. There's, as far as I can tell, there's only one real entity that's going to really utilize this, and that's the one up in the Pittston area because a lot of these other redevelopment are not doing this kind of work. Even in

Wilsberry City, they're not terribly active with with their blighted properties. So, I'm I my concern is that this is going to be a fund. I think Mark Vbo used the the term slush fund. It's going to be just a lot of money. It's going to accumulate and then when something needs to be done, I will tap into that. I just I just have a lot of questions about this. I agree with a lot of this in spirit. I think it is good. We do have to deal with blight, but our process is a little shaky at this point. I would prefer we really iron out the process. We have a we don't even have a bite property view committee that's functioning right now. We don't have that. So, until we have something like that in place, I would say vote no on this.

If I can comment. Um, well, I actually I extremely support this piece. I think this ordinance is fabulous. I was going to introduce it myself. It was definitely something I was already looking into, especially because our blighted committee has been active inactive. um for so long and I think the the procedures that we currently have in place are not suitable for proper execution based on all of the parties that we have involved. But I believe that this helps us get to that phase of one being able to collect funds in advance to be able to handle that blighted property, but then being able to put steps in place to address that with the municipalities and have monies already there to handle that. That to me is leading to a tangible result. Um I I think this is solid. I absolutely support it. Um, I think, you know, there are some details that I think we can figure out as it's implemented down the line, but I I absolutely agree with this. Um, and seeing that hopefully I'll be here to continue with the bloody committee and get it active in this next year. I think this is a really great step forward.

Has the park been acted at all? Have you have you had any meetings or anything like that for that whatsoever? See, I mean, we we don't just want to have money laying around. We really want to have a dedicated purpose for it. I would really encourage you to really it's it's really difficult because there the as it's composed there's specific individuals that can serve on that and um takes a lot of work and uh again if we don't have this it's just somebody else will use it. It will not be our bled property committee and that's what this says here in section D. Mr. Chair, thank you.

Right now I think the blighted committee's process is is terribly tedious to the point where there is no execution that can come out of that process. Um, so my hope is actually to reshape what that blighted committee process looks like while we work with the necessary parties to make it easier to handle blight throughout the county. Um, so while that will be a journey and we'll see what that looks like. Um, I think there'll definitely be discussions we have [clears throat] forward. Councilman Hos, Mr. Chair, I suggest you call the question. Okay. I I I mean, I had a comment I wanted to make, but okay, we can call the question. Okay. All right.

Okay. All right. Yeah. No, I just I just wanted to say I agree with some of what Miss Stevenson said. Um, and you know, I I think that uh Mr. Hos mentioned the land bank in the greater Pittston area. Um, and the reason why they're so active is because they are organized and and they do have a a really good success rate at um at getting funding. Now, the other land banks in the area, we've we've given them money in the past um in the ARPA fund um and they have had some su some success and I I believe that if if they had more access to funding, they'd be able to do more with their blighted properties as well. So, um, I support this this piece of legislation

and the predevelopment authority of Pittston is willing to help any anywhere in the county. It's not only for Pittston, right, Mr. Sabino? And maybe we should explore having a land bank of our own to fill in the gaps in between. Yeah, that's something I've definitely been working on. Um, so looking forward to that. Okay. All right. There's a motion in a second. Roll call. Miss McDermott. Yes, Mr. Perry. Yes, Mr. Savatino. Yes, Miss Stevenson. Yes, Mr. Thon. Yes, Mr. Wovich. Yes, Mr. Hos. Nope. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Yes.

Eight. Yes. One. No. Thank you. Number four. Motion to adopt the resolution approving the advertisement of a request for proposals for commercial real estate broker services related to marketing and sale of 54 West Union Street, Wilsberry. Some moved. Second. Motion and a second. Roll call. Mr. Perry are the audible. Uh, hold on. Okay. For 30. Um, there is nothing blank in the resolution. Okay.

No, there's nothing blank in the resolution. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We were talking about blanks. That's in the next resolution. There's a council member is going to propose an amendment, but yeah. Okay. Mr. Perry, yes. Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wova, yes. Mr. Hos, yes. Miss Krishnowski, yes. Miss McDermott, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Number five, motion to adopt the resolution approving the advertisement for bids for the auction and sale of 100 West Broad Street, Hazelton. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Is there on the question or an amendment?

Yes. Uh to the resolution. Do we want to add a minimum bid? Um I would propose to have a minimum bid start at the appraised value. Okay. I'll second the appraised value of 2.1 million. Okay. I'll second. All right. And where would that amendment uh be placed in the uh resolution? Okay. So the fourth, whereas given the interest expressed in the property, the county manager is recommending putting the property out for bid auction and sale and compliance with applicable and state law pertaining to the sale of the real property by a municipality and minimum bid uh starting at 2.1 million.

Okay. Are we adding other language in it such as I had a question. Would it be more agreeable in the fifth whereas as we agree with the county manager's recommendation but at 2.1 million or whatever the appreze value is at the all right so it would say whereas Luzernne County council agrees with the county manager's recommendation at a min minimum starting bid of 2.1 million if I mean if land's okay with that I think that would make more sense what there yes I'm fine with that okay all right okay there's a there's a motion second the amendment All right. Okay. There's a motion and a second. Roll call on the amendment.

Mr. Perry. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss Stevenson. Yes. Mr. Thornton. Yes. Mr. Wov. Yes. Mr. Hos. Yes. Miss Krishnowski. Yes. Miss. McDermott. Yes, [clears throat] Mr. Lombardo. Yes. Unanimous. All right. Uh, yep. Go ahead, Attorney Scheme. So, in that wherefore we are we leaving in auction or we just going to have it as bid.

I would say remove auction. Remove auction. So from there and from now therefore

it would just be in that fourth whereas paragraph. Oh yeah and in the end one correct. So so I motion to make that amendment. Yeah. Yes. All right. Removing the word option in the fourth whereas and the therefore. I'll second that. Okay. Motion in a second. Roll call on the second amendment. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss Stevenson. Yes. Mr. Thornton. Yes. Mr. Wovic. Yes. Mr. Hos. Yes. M. Krishnowski? Yes. M. McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Yes.

Unanimous. All right. Thank you. There's a motion in a second on the res on the resolution. Is everyone okay with their motion and second as amended? Okay. Roll call on the amended resolution. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wovit, yes. Mr. Hos, yes. Miss Kushnowski, yes. Miss McDermott, yes. Mr. Perry, yes. Mr. Sabatino, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Thank you. Number six, motion to adopt a resolution approving an agreement with Service Electric for exclusive broadcasting of county council meetings. Motion. Second. There's a motion and a second on the question.

I'd like to make an amendment to the uh page two of three of the agreement. Okay. number seven to strike the existing wordage there and to replace it with service electric will be able to place an advertisement at the bottom of the screen on the YouTube recordings alongside the service electric logo. The advertisement will say experience service electric streaming app. Call or go to secctv.com for more information. [clears throat] Okay. Is there a second on that amendment? Second. All right. Motion and a second. Roll call.

You have the um the language for afterwards. Okay. Just making sure. Mr. Tharton. Uh this is on the amendment alone. Yes. Uh I vote yes on the amendment. Mr. Love? Yes. Mr. Hos? Yes. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Sabatina? Yes, M. Stevenson. Yes, Mr. Lombardo. Yes. Unanimous.

All right. Thank you on the question. Um I I I I agree with what Mr. Griffith said um during his public comment. I I don't think this is a service that is necessarily serving us uh any longer. We have the ability through our IT department um to do all of these things. Um and again when when we initiated this contract with Service Electric Electric, it was it was prior to being able to do all these broadcasting um abilities that we have. So um you know I while I appreciate their willingness to uh you know come up a little bit of a compromise with us, I just think that it would be better to do this in house um and you know have complete and total authority over our own uh social media pages and whatnot. And that's something maybe we should even talk about expanding uh in the future. Uh, Mr. Hos and then Mr. Wish.

Yeah. Um, thanks for sharing that, Mr. Lombardo. I was thinking that as well, and [clears throat] I really appreciate Service Electric. It's a local business. They they treat the community really well. A lot of people I I run into say they watch us on Service Electric. I'm sure you all experienced the same thing. So, I I agree with what you said, John, about um making this having this what? No.

I haven't met anyone who's had that experience. Well, I I have and um I just think it's a service any way we can get the word out I think is a positive thing. I I was thinking perhaps a compromise would be to get rid of the exclusive language in this because you know Ramila goes down um to um she's on the same ant show down south county which I think is a very valuable thing too to communicate what's going on with the council and with county business and the management. So, um I was thinking in instead of having the exclusive broadcasting rights, why don't we just have for the if if you look even at the title on page 35, a resolution of Lutheran County Council approving an agreement with Surface Electric for the broadcasting of county council meetings. And then there are about four or five other exclusives in this. I would just propose to delete them. So if you look at the second whereas whereas loser county council desires to enter into a broadcasting agreement with service electric for the delete exclusive and just retain for the broadcasting of council meetings yada yada yada. The third one um now therefore be it resolved authorize the county manager to ex execute a broadcast agreement with service electric for broadcasting rights. Just delete that exclusive there. If you follow me everybody on page 33 with the agreement itself, strike exclusive out of the first paragraph. Express the mut desire to enter into an delete exclusive a and and get rid of the and an and a broadcast agreement. And then number four, delete exclusive nature of the and I think that is it what I was looking at. So again, it if you look at the language of the county can exit this agreement at any time, so can service electric, but I think any way that it gets word out to people. I think it's a positive thing and uh I appreciate service electric for doing this for many years. You know, that's my amendment, Mr. Chen, to delete those four exclusives.

All right. There's a motion in a second on the amendment to delete the exclusivity of the agreement and the verbiage that indicates that. Delete the five exclusive. Yes. Five. And there's a second roll call. Mr. Wovich, I don't think Service Electric would agree to it if we did that. So, I'm voting no. Mr. Hos, yes. Miss Kishnowski, yes. Miss McDermott, yes. Mr. Perry, yes. Mr. Sabatino, no. Miss Stevenson,

I'm going to vote no. just because I believe the county can provide for itself at this time. Mr. Thornton, I agree with Miss Stevenson. I'm going to no for the same reason. Mr. Lombardo, uh I I'll vote yes on this amendment. We have five yes and four no. It passes. Okay. All right. Okay. Uh is everyone Mr. Rollover? Go ahead. I apologize. Yes. Thank you. Um, again, I appreciate Service Electric, but again, I don't even believe they cover close to half the county, so I don't think this is making much sense. Okay.

All right. Okay. There's a motion in a second on the uh on the resolution. Roll call. Mr. Hos, yes. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Sabatino? No. Miss Stevenson, no. Mr. Thornton, no. Mr. Wovage, no. Mr. Lombardo, no. Four, yes and five, no.

Okay. Thank you. Number seven. Motion to introduce ordinance amending the Luzar County zoning map to reszone one parcel of property totaling 2.29 acres in Newport Township from MI mining district zone to R2 two family residence district zone. Uh is that an automatic introduction? I'll be making that motion to introduce. Okay. I will be making that uh motion to introduce uh the uh ordinance. Any questions? All right. Thank you. Number eight. Motion to adopt the resolution approving the allocation of opioid settlement proceeds to pathway to recovery counseling and educational services. So move. Second. Motion and a second. Roll call. Miss Krishnowski.

Yes. Miss McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry, yes. Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Willow, yes. Mr. Hos, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Number nine, motion to adopt the resolution approving the allocation of opioid settlement proceeds to Wyoming Valley Behavioral Health. So moved. Okay. Hold on. Second, Britney. Okay. And I think um Greg Okay. Okay. Motion in a second. Roll call. Miss McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss. Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes.

Mr. Wovic? Yes. Mr. Hos? Yes. Miss Kushnowski? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Yes. Unanimous. Number 10. Motion to adopt the resolution approving a modification to an American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded project for the Swersville Parks and Recreation Board. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Roll call. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss. Stevenson. Yes. Mr. Thornton. Yes. Mr. Wovich. Yes. Mr. Hos. Yes. Miss. Krishnowski? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Yes. Unanimous.

Number 11. Motion to adopt the resolution approving a modification to an American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded project for the city of Pittsen/graterreater Pittsen Regional Ambulance. So move second. Motion and a second. Roll call. Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Woth? Yes. Mr. Hos? Yes. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? I abstain. I'm an employee of the city of Pittston. So we have eight yes with one abstension. It passes. Thank you. Number 12. Motion to adopt the resolution approving a modification to an American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded project for the city of Hazelton. So moved. Second.

Second. Motion and a second. Roll call. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. W? Yes. Mr. Hos? Yes. Miss Kushnowski? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Yes. unanimous number 13. Motion to adopt the resolution confirming the appointment of the division head of operational services. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Uh I don't know. M Krishnowski, I think. Okay. All right. Motion and a second. Roll call.

Mr. Chair, do we have to name the person and and the salary? The salary listed in the resolution. It is uh Michelle Sparitch and the salary is $98,800 per year plus benefits. Thank you. Yep. There's a motion in a second. Roll call. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Yes. Mr. Hos? Yes. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Lombardo. Absolutely. Yes. Congratulations, Miss Spar. [applause]

It is an honor to have you with the county, Michelle Spar. Chairman Lombardo, may may Absolutely.

Thank you. And bear with me. Uh, normally I I uh just say welcome to the jungle. Uh but uh Michelle has been in the jungle uh a very long time. But I do uh want to offer a few words to express my heartfelt gratitude and admiration uh for an exceptional individual who has been a cornerstone of our community uh Michelle Sparage. And I want to thank council for uh their overwhelming support. Uh we uh often reflect uh on our progress and envision our future. Uh and it's important uh to recognize and acknowledge the invaluable contribution Michelle has made in moving our county forward over over the decades. For years, Michelle has been a beacon of innovation and intelligence. Her ability to think creatively and strategically has not only inspired those around her, but has also driven significant advances in our county. Whether tackling complex challenges, working in the county manager's office or envisioning new initiatives, Michelle approaches every task with a keen insight that demonstrates her deep understanding of our community needs. What sets Michelle apart is her unwavering commitment to leading by example. She embodies the values we hold dear. Integrity, dedication, and service. Her work has not only transformed policies and programs, but has also fostered a sense of unity and purpose among us all. We all have seen firsthand how her

leadership galvanizes teams, encouraging collaboration and a shared vision for a brighter future. Michelle, I want you to know that you are not just a colleague, you are a trusted partner in this journey. I count on you and I know that the entire county does as well. Your passion for our community and your relentless pursuit of excellence inspires me to strive for more. So, as we look ahead, let us continue to support Michelle and the vital work she does. Together with her guidance, we can overcome any obstacle and seize the opportunities that lie. Thank you, Michelle, for your remarkable contributions to Lutheran County and for being a guiding light. We are truly lucky to have you on board and I'm excited about the future we will build together. [applause] Congratulations again, Miss Sparitch.

Did you want to Did you want to say a few words? Okay. All right. Okay. I figured I'd offer. Okay. If there's nothing further, we'll have public comment on non-aggenda items. I have a couple slips up here. First, Mr. Griffith. First of all,

first of all, welcome Michelle. I've had I've had the opportunity to work with her over the past four years and she is truly a remarkable person in grants as well as what she's doing now. So, uh I wish her well. I I think she'll do a very very good job. Um, under my non-aggenda items, I I looked on the website and I could not find the uh proposed budget 2026 proposed budget or the proposed position budget. Now, I don't know if they're out there. Everywhere I looked, I could not find it, but if the county manager could direct me somewhere or budget and finance as to where it is on the website, I might be in error thinking it's not posted, but if it's not, if we could get that up there for the public, that would be helpful. Um last at our last council meeting the um there was a a a increase in the director of elections pay from $64999 to $77,000. That's a very large increase of like $12,000 for that one individual. And the deputy chief clerk is getting a 20% raise from 15,000 to 35 from a $15,000 raise from 35,000 to 50,000. Yet the deputy director is only getting two and a half percent. Everybody in this county pretty much is a non-union person is getting two and a half percent. These particular people are getting a large increase. And I think council should consider that when you look at a budget is that and I don't I'm not minimizing the work that's involved. I'm just saying how fair it would be to other county employees that are not getting that sizable increase. So if council could look at that when they make corrections to the budget, if you feel that that's warranted, certainly that's within your purview and I would certainly respect that. If it's not, you need to think you you could take that back, you can certainly do that as well. But just something for council to be aware. I don't know if that was really clear uh when the budget presentation was made. So I just want council to be

aware. Um there was also an increase of 2 and a half% for the tax collectors. uh 70 tax collectors got a tax increase. They did not get an increase in their pay. So, I don't know if that's something the council should look at as well under the tax collector salaries for elected officials that there was an automatic 2 and a half% and I think that might have been just something that's in the spreadsheet that just gave it two and a half% across across the board for non-elected or non-union employees. So, just take a look at that. That could be a savings of $53,000 for the county if you take a look at that because there was no increase granted to the tax collectors for the next four years. Um I strongly urge council to under the district attorney is to question the LEO officer salary. I don't think that's something that we should allow to happen without a contract by this council. You guys approve that process. We don't have a contract with them. I'm not saying whether that process is something whether we should have leos or not. I'm saying that there's a process council needs to approve and move that forward. So, thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Griffith. Anybody else? Public comment in the Oh, I'm sorry. I have other slips up here. Um, Mike Tedesco. Yeah, [clears throat] excuse me.

Good evening. So, I just want to give you a little bit my background over the last almost 40 years. U, I'm not from Luzar County. I'm actually from Pittsburgh and I apologize for last night's debacle. But that being said, I moved here in ' 87 as an obstatrician in the area and I probably delivered about 10,000 babies in the area. So I know very closely what's taken place when I started at Nesbet, then Wilsbury General Hospital, some time at Mercy Hospital, back to Wilsbury General Hospital. And I was around at the time when um CHS came in and made us lots of promises. Um, and it was exciting time. Um, and and I think some of those things they went through with, but I will tell you that and again, as being here for a long time, I've seen it uh the amount of services that we had diminish. You know, most notably with myself, the elimination of obstetrics. Now, whether that was a right move or wrong move, I can't debate that. I was finishing my practice at the time. Didn't really affect me. But we we've seen this this diminishment of services and then we come to the present time with the the sale of the the three hospitals and whether that's the right thing or the wrong thing and I can't answer that. I don't know Tener Health well enough but I but I do know that right now um CHS does not want to be in Pennsylvania for whatever reason. you know, many many years ago when this took place in 2015, whatever the year was, they expanded and and for their reasons, they decided that was the mistake and they they've divested quite a few hospitals. Uh, and you know, that's what they're trying to do now with ours. U if this sale doesn't go through, we have no one else there that I'm aware of that's saying, "Oh, this well, we'll just we'll back this up." being here with with OB when OB stopped. I can tell you the community needs

Wilsburg General Hospital. We can't let this hospital go down. I couldn't find places for my patients to be seen in obstetrics when we lost it. You know, we that and that being said again, Tener Health, I met them shortly last week. They came in. Um, I I I I was cautiously optimistic that when they came in, they presented things that made me believe that this wasn't something coming in just to try to run these hospitals into the ground, but they had a vision of bringing back services to support this hospital, not only to support it, to help it grow. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. All right. Next up, we have Michael Clark. Mr. request.

Certainly. Um sir, if you if you are um going to be, you know, speaking on this presentation that will be made, you could certainly have as much time as you want at that time. This is, you know, essentially public. Okay. I mean, I think you can I would be I would be okay with it if you wanted to speak during the time of the presentation instead of just having the three minutes of public comment. It's up to you. Again, may we invite them in to the chamber? Yes. Yeah, certainly.

Okay. All right. Okay.

Okay. No, there's more I think coming in.

Mr. Clark, are you are you intending to speak for an extended period of time or I'll I'll do the abbreviated and Mrs. Savatali and we'll give you an opportunity to speak during want make sure you're speaking at the right in the right time period if that's okay. That'd be fine. Okay. All right. Thank you. We'll have you we'll have you come up and speak at during the presentation then if that's okay. Okay. We also have Patrick Connib.

Excuse me one minute.

Okay. I need this to hear and this to see. Sorry about that. Hi, I I'm Dr. Patrick Conway. I'm uh a family practitioner who's been in Northeast Pennsylvania for over 30 years. I was the chief medical information officer at Wilsberry General Hospital for three years and I have been the chief medical officer at Regional Hospital in Scranton now for eight years. like to speak briefly about the hospital matter and ask your support to uh for the municipal bonds for uh the organization. I realize that u there are only a few major barriers to asking you to do this. First is and probably primarily the loss of tax revenue. Secondly would be the workability of the plan and management. And finally, can we integrate and succeed for Wilsberry and Scranton? To start with, let's talk about the tax [clears throat] revenue. I there is no way that anybody is going to be able to replace that. That that's the reality of the world. However, when weighing that, one of the things that people think about is that well, if this goes away, Wilsberry General Hospital will continue on the tax rules and everything will be fine. And I'm here to tell you that's not true. CHS will not continue with Wilsberry General Hospital beyond 2027. Couple things I can show you to prove you this. For those who have never seen it, this is the stock price of CHS over the last 10 years. When they came to Northeast Pennsylvania and bought our hospitals, they bought eight hospitals. They had 202 hospitals at that time. They had a stock price of $63 a share.

Now, approximately 12 years later, they're $3 and change a share. As of this week, they have 63 hospitals. Of the eight in Pennsylvania, there are three left. They have sold Wilsberry General Hospital and Regional Hospital for a song twice. I have to tell you again, I don't know everything about high finance, but I do know if you come home twice in one year and your wife has put your luggage out on the sidewalks, your relationship isn't going to go for very long. And so, yes, regional hospital will close sooner, but Wilsberry General will soon follow. It's just the reality of how the world is going. So, what could we do instead of instead of the tax laws at some point? Obviously, there is some payments that can be made, but in the first year, we're coming here looking for money. So, this saying, "Well, we're going to give you back money," is like your kids getting 50 bucks to buy you a Christmas present. It just doesn't really make sense for the first year. But there are other things a hospital can do. We can support your EMS workers. We can make sure that your emergency medicine folks and your fire department, etc., uh can get x-rays, blood work, etc. uh for free. We can support your free clinics and we can support a lot of other things within the within the city. All right, do Dr. Connor Boy, your time is um up for the public comment session, but if you'd like to come back up and continue uh speaking when uh the presentation is occurring, happy to have you speak at length. Okay,

that was at length. Okay. All right. Well, [laughter] extending the offer. All right. All right. Is there anybody else in the audience for public comment? Okay. The Zoom. We have a hand up. Mr. Rabel. Mr. Chairman. This is Mark Rabbo Helton speaking. Can you hear me? Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I'd like to make uh the council council people like yourself and uh Miss Stevenson aware of uh the fact that under the blighted property committee is set by state law as the county manager in her p previous iteration under as county chief county solicitor could say attest to that uh under section 12.1b of the redevelopment law that is the process is established lished the way it is because not only because the statute itself spells it out is also because of 12 state supreme court rulings in the past going back to I believe it's the 1920s till present day. So unless Miss Stevenson wants to run for state representative out of Wilsair, you can't change that process or state senator, whichever one. So, I just wanted to make that make that edification aware aware for you yourself and her and uh anybody else on council. And also, as you know, Mr. Chairman, the land banks are only for tax delinquent properties, not for vacant and uh derelict properties that are that are uh owner occupied. So, that's why you have a blighted property committee. So, I just wanted to make that uh distinction uh clear.

[clears throat]

Also the district attorney is going to make his budget presentation. I wanted to ask the question you could convey the question to him about the security for the TSA security fee for the 911 the September 11th fee for the uh LEOs. Uh if uh he's going him and the county manager are going to apply for that uh that that uh that fee. And also Mr. chairman as and I don't want to bring this Tuesday's election up but uh there was a problem as far as out of state packs I wasn't here at the last meeting uh out of state packs Mr. Chairman and Mr. scheme. Uh can uh I would like to make him aware of this too that and the district attorney probably knows this uh previously that outofstate packs must be registered with the Luzern county election of board of elections or with the department of state under campaign finance reporting law. Now I checked these out of state packs when they made their when I had got these flyers in the mail and I checked uh and they did not register Mr. Chairman. So yourself, uh, the vice chairman or any other, uh, candidate that was agrieved can file a complaint or with the, uh, district attorney or the state attorney general's office for violation of the campaign finance reporting law by these out ofstate packs. And, uh, maybe maybe you might uh, uh, take want to take that matter up into consideration.

And one last thing, Mr. Chairman, happy birthday to the United States Marine Corps 250th birthday. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rabbo. Anybody else? Is there a motion to adjourn? All in favor?

Opposed? All right. Meetings adjourned at 6:55. We're going to restart in 5 minutes at 7 o'clock with the work session if that's okay. Hey, how you doing? You want it, right? Michelle,

just keep doing your thing. Can I photo bomb that?

There's a pulse. Relax. I get the picture. The picture happens the second months. going hours of the Oh my god. support out there.

Hello. How are you? Oh, you're not.

Very nice. You guys would be

good to see. How are you? Good. How's it going, sir? yourself still standing. chairs here.

How are you?

I'll go up. [laughter] As I get Even though they're twins, right?

Okay, council members, please take your seats. We're going to get restarted here with the work session. Okay, everybody. It's 7:03 p.m. I'd like to call the work session to order. We already had the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. Roll call, please. Miss Lawrence.

Mr. Hos, here. Miss Krishnowski here. Mr. Lascgavage. Miss McDermott here. Mr. Perry here. Mr. Sabatino here. Miss Smith. Miss Stevenson here. Mr. Thornton here. Mr. Wovich here. Mr. Lombardo here. Nine of 11. Thank you. Any additions or deletions from the work session agenda? Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Second. All in favor? Opposed? Agenda is adopted. First up, division reports. Manager promo.

I'm sorry. I have to say, is there a doctor in the house? Uh [laughter] I I I couldn't resist. I'm sorry. And I stayed at a holiday in Express, so I I I can pretend I'm a doctor. Uh a few things uh before uh I discuss the division report. Uh just want to inform council that we will uh we purchased a brand new polygon uh for this room and we have uh a new 4K camera. It informed me uh earlier today. So we're we're sprucing the uh the council chamber up. Um the uh budget was attached uh to the agenda submitt in October when it was uh presented. When the budget is finally passed uh we will put it on directly a link on our website. But if you go to the agenda portion on uh the council website, you will see the budget and the position list. Um uh also uh with the tax collectors, the tax collectors were not budgeted with merit increases. They were increased based on trending payments. More bills collected equal more payments at $260. Uh, I submitted the uh division uh report and uh as always if there are questions or concerns uh you can call, email me or text me.

All right, thank you. Any questions for manager Crocom? All right, thank you very much. Next up, discussion regarding the resolution approving the sale of certain parcels of property held in repository by Elite Revenue Solutions LLC acting as Luzon County Tax Claim Bureau. Any discussion? Anything? Anyone? Okay. Thank you. Well, I mean, I always ask Mr. Chair if I could just are all the the utilities paid for. Do they any municipalities have any issues with this with anything on the list? Not I don't vote those any

they do check and if there if there are any reports uh they would let us know

okay anything else on number two all right hospital purchase presentation I know there's several speakers that are going to be coming up here so please just when you [clears throat] do come to speak uh just state your name and you What entity you're representing? I am here because I'm the individual that asked for this matter to be placed on the agenda. Uh I will be very brief. On October the 29th, the hospital authority had a publicly advertised meeting. At that meeting, individuals from Tenor Health presented to us in asking us to act as the conduit for them to receive taxfree bonds for funding. Our role as the hospital authority is to basically check four boxes. The first is are you a not forprofit? The second is if you're in front of our authority, are you a hospital or The third is are you within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania because our jurisdiction uh is for the entire Commonwealth. And then the fourth box is whether or not the hospital authority and and the county are indemnified by the bond documents and the resolutions. After their presentation and after my review of the resolutions and the documents, the authority unanimously approved the project. However, that's not where it ends. As many of you know,

we are then required to have a terra hearing which was publicly advertised and held in this room earlier today. The terra hearing gives the public an opportunity to come and either object or voice concerns. I can tell you that no one attended the ter hearing other than Tom McGrath who was a member of my authority, Roda Salvatal who is the CEO of Tenor and myself. And the minutes for that will be prepared once I can prepare them. that happened earlier today. So the resolution before you is the last step in the hospital authority process and that last step is to inform you that the hospital authority voted to inform you that we had a ter hearing and then to present you with a resolution to determine whether or not by using the hospital authority as a conduit for the tax-free bonds whether or not it is a detriment to the health safety and welfare of the community that it impacts. Um and uh traditionally projects that involve schools or hospitals uh don't raise concerns uh that they are a detriment for the health, safety, and welfare of the community. In fact, they're usually the opposite because they usually increase the health, safety, and welfare of the community. But that is the resolution before the council that we would like you to entertain on I believe November 25th, which is the next time you meet. That's all I have from the authority unless you have questions. about the authority or its role and then I believe Bart Plank would like to address you about the financing and and and h how the funding works.

Thank you. All right. Thank you, Attorney [clears throat] Moses.

Thank you. Um as Peter said, my name is Bart Plank. Uh I'm a managing director and the head of healthcare public finance at Kain Brothers which is a division of key bank. I've worked in uh the financing of not for-profit healthcare facilities since 1997. Uh we've been working on behalf of tenor to uh achieve a a funding goal for the transaction. Uh we have a lender a single lender identified who is prepared to purchase uh both the taxexempt and taxable bonds that we hope will be approved. uh through the authority uh our team has been working with uh multiple law firms um which are needed uh to affect the taxexempt financing uh and in preparation to try and uh close the transaction uh by December 1st and uh the lender who will be providing the financing is a firm called they were founded in 2008 um they specialize in public finance uh they have done a significant amount of healthcare lending over their span um and have done over $6 billion of lending in the municipal space uh since their founding. Um uniquely positioned uh to support this transaction as a lender. Uh people may be aware that the prior financing efforts uh from a previous buyer were not able to be consummated to fund that transaction. Uh we have a bit of a different scenario here in that uh we're not going out and searching for a lender. lender is ready to go. Uh we just need our approvals and our documentation in place along with all the regulatory and other um filings that have to take place in order for the um the sale transaction to take take place as well. So I'll pause there for any questions you might have for me.

Mr. Ross, hey Mr. Blank, welcome to Wolsberry. Um what's the name of the lender again? Could you share? Rosemar R O S E M A WR asset management. Is that out of Philadelphia? Philadelphia name. No, they're they're in New York and Florida. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other questions? All right. Go ahead, sir. Further. Um, so I think we're going to bring up uh Rada Savatala, who's the CEO of Tener, to talk more about the transaction.

All right. Fantastic. Good evening, council members. Thank you for your time this evening. Thank you for um all of the members who are here in this room. Uh we appreciate the opportunity to be before you to present not only Tener but the but the transaction and um what the acquisition uh looks like as well as how we move forward from here. Um next slide please. I was told to say that by the That's okay. Next. Um, just not showing up on the TV.

Thank you. Tener Health Foundation was established to uh own and operate hospitals that are uh financially struggling so that we can ensure access to health care in in communities where there is a risk of either competition or hospitals shutting down. Um we identify hospitals that have opportunities for improvement either cycle operationally. Um and uh on the expense side we we look at a metrics uh in terms of salaries, benefits, professional services uh whether there are specialties that appropriately support the community needs. um as well as other uh other operational um metrics such as supply chain. We we look at IT services. There's there's a lot that goes into hospital operations, but we look at these departments specifically with the notion of how do we sustain the hospitals for long-term viability. um our hospital uh management team and I have a few listed here collectively have over 100 years of experience. Next slide please. Uh a little bit of background on myself. I'm a healthcare attorney. By training I have worked on over 40 acute care um hospital acquisitions. On top of that I have medical group acquisition experience. I've done real estate, finance. Um, I've I've really learned through the transition teams that that I have worked with. This includes uh market CEOs, CFOs, HR, IT, uh, radiology. I mean, you name the department. I have worked with them um, in the past to ensure again that we look

at department by department how to ensure that the hospitals become viable. Um we also have Butch Evansson who is chief administrative officer. Next slide please. Um he has experience in working as a CFO in hospitals as well as a CEO. Uh prior to coming to tenor he did work with Ovation Health which was a division. opport. [snorts] Mr. Chair, I'm sorry to interrupt, but the audio is no longer coming across.

Is the uh Okay. Sorry, Mr. Torton. I think that the microphone might have shut itself off. Can you just press the button? It'll turn back on.

Okay, there we go. All good. Thank you. All right. Thank you.

Uh Tener Health Foundation recently uh Next slide, please. Recently acquired Sharon Regional Medical Center, which is in northwestern PA. It was a hospital that was closed by the uh bankruptcy for uh Steuart Healthcare. That hospital closed earlier uh in January of this year. We acquired the transaction through the bankruptcy court, received the necessary approvals, and reopened the hospital in March of uh this year. And then in April of this year, we uh opened up some of the hospital-based operations as well as the uh surgery centers uh apologies, the surgical services. Um at this time, we brought back all of the major services um that that the hospital had prior to the closure. We are awaiting the uh Department of Health to approve our waiver request for the Kath Lab once that is reopened. Right now we're we're doing diagnostics, but once that is reopened, we'll be able to do um the we we'll be able to fully reopen the Kath lab. Essentially, that's what that means. Uh we've we've contracted with all of the major payers um in in the region. Uh because of the uniqueness of that acquisition, um we were not able to assume any of the prior contracts and so we had to reach out to each and every single plan to renegotiate all of the rates. We we negotiated every single contract for the hospital. Actually, that was over 200 uh contracts in and of itself. And even though it was only a two-month period in which the hospital was closed, the vendors in some cases took weeks and/or months to renegotiate the agreements. And um it's not an easy task to reopen a hospital even though it's just been shut down for two months. But uh we were able to accomplish that.

Um, a little bit about the transaction history for the hospitals here which include Wilsbury General Hospital, Regional Hospital of Scranton and Moses Taylor Hospital. Moses Taylor Hospital and Regional Hospital of Scranton um operate off of the same license. So, collectively we refer to that hospital as as Regional Hospital of Scranton or Regional. Uh we are acquiring all of the hospitals as well as the physician practices uh ambulatory ambulatory surgery centers as well as the real estate from community health systems also known as CHS. Um we will hire substantially all of the employees that are in good standing at the time of the closing and we are aiming to close the transaction here in in December of this year. Next slide. Bart Plank, who you heard from uh Kain Brothers speak, uh spoke about the series 2025 bond. So, I'm not going to go go to that slide. Um next slide, please. We have a lot of goals um in light of this transaction here. Um what what tenor brings to the table is the fact that this asset now becomes a community asset which means that uh we will have a community board that that has an input um that will have transparency into the operations into the into the financials of the hospital as well. And then um Tener also has visibility in the in the community because we will bring members of the team here. In fact, since the transaction has been announced, we've had our team members here consistently. um what what we have learned through the various meetings that we've had with the

with the CMOs [snorts] with with the directors um is that there's there's a lack of recruitment into these facilities. The specialties just have not been replaced as you know people have left or or moved on move moved out of the area. um the the service lines and the community needs have not been replaced. Equipment, physical plant improvements. Um one thing when when I do meet with members of the community is how they keep asking for better quality within within the hospital and outcomes um as well as more community engagement. And I truly believe that we will bring these resources to the table. Um, we do believe in physician engagement and and recruitment. Um, if if we're going to have members of the community come to the hospital, we really have to show that we have the ability to in invest and improve the equipment, physical plant, but also improve the um inequities of our of our employees. So um like I mentioned, every aspect of the hospital operations is being looked at and reviewed and um we will we will do what is right for this hospital and for this community. I will stop there. Council members, any questions as of right now? Anybody? Okay. All right. Are there other representatives here that would like to come up and speak? Mr. Clark,

is that is the mic on? [clears throat] No, it's not on. You want to hold it in? Should turn back on. There we go. Okay. Uh, this might come as a shock to you. I am not originally from Pennsylvania.

So, but I've I've lived a good bit of my life all over the eastern seabboard and and across the states of the south. I was brought here earlier this year in March to assist this hospital. Uh, was a contractor for CHS. I became quite enthralled with the staff and the physicians that uh run this hospital to the point that my wife and I are making this our home so that we can continue to uh make certain that the hospital will move forward and that we can carry forward with the traditions. Wilsberry General has a rich history. They have uh I mean remarkable things have happened over the years but that is the past. Uh Wilsberry while still profitable faces quite a bit of uh strong headwinds and those come from some of the things that were already mentioned with physician recruitment. Everybody across the United States is There you go.

You have to stand out and be different so that you can attract folks. You have to follow people through medical school that are from the area. That's your best source of finding people that want to be here. We have been uh we have struggled with keeping top-notch staff because we have a huge competitor in our market and uh we have not always had the flexibility to address some of the salary inequities that they're able to u simply offer so much more money at a snap of the fingers than we are through our systems. So we look forward to the time that um Do we [clears throat] do we have another uh set of batteries for the microphone back there? Sorry. This happens like at almost every meeting.

No. No. Plea please don't.

I could just talk louder. Well, it maybe Mr. Sabatino could hand his microphone [clears throat] to the gentleman. Yeah, he can do that. Yeah, if you just want to hold it.

Yeah. All right. So, in in working through the uh efforts to acquire the hospitals with Tener Health, they've been very open. they've been um you know sharing their passion, sharing the needs that the what they see that the hospital has needs and uh as it was touched on we have everything from equipment needs to infrastructure needs. I we have a very old hospital plant that ages from hundreds of years old up to the most recent additions were in the 90s. [snorts] But we have uh needs for replacement equipment. Now, I won't say anything disparaging again about community health systems, but they have let it be known that they no longer want to own hospitals in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a difficult place to operate due to to many things. uh regulatory agencies are difficult to work with other opportunities for staff and what those uh challenges. So CHS has said they don't want to be here. So therefore they've been very um stringent when we're needing capital or when we're needing raises or when we need to do additional recruitment. Uh I feel very confident that with tenor they will look at that and they will make the right choices that they'll support this hospital and this hospital can continue to flourish. Some of the other challenges we've had with CHS is they made a decision corporatewide to sell all the outpatient lab services to LabCore.

So, these hospitals will no longer be able to offer standard outpatient labs. Lot of exclusions. If it's for surgery, yes, we get to do that. If you have an X-ray and a lab, we get to do that. But this is about a $5 million um hit to our earnings over the next years. Um so those type of challenges make it necessary that we find new infusions that we bring forward new ideas and other opportunities that will keep us uh vigilant in caring for our communities and I believe that Tenor is a good choice to do that. Thank [clears throat] you.

All right. Thank you. And then that microphone works again. Um any questions council members? Miss Stevenson? Yes. Um, so what exactly is the Tener Health Foundation's ask of Lazernne County? Just make sure to turn the microphone back on because I don't think it's on. Would you like me to answer that as from the bond perspective?

So, right. No. So, the ask is zero. They want the opportunity to sell bonds in the open market to fund it. The only way they could get tax-free municipal bonds is by utilizing a municipal authority. So they utilized us as a municipal authority. And now we just have to make sure that the usage of us as a municipal authority doesn't detrimentally impact the community. So there's no check or money coming from the county. Mr. Hos.

Yeah. Um Mr. Moses, why while you're still up there, I think this is a question directed to you as well. During the last attempt at an acquisition, that entity wanted to take over some neighboring houses in the neighborhood. Are we looking anything like or is that Miss Savatillaa? They'll know more about that than I will because our authority wasn't utilized. I believe they attempted to utilize the Wolsberry Redevelopment Authority and then the plan kind of just sank for a number of reasons including but not limited to the fact that I think they weren't able to get financing. Okay, great. But but so that plan's kind of nebulous at this point. We're not looking at increasing the footprint of the hospital.

I [snorts] think it just involves the properties owned by CHS, but I'll let That's correct. We're looking to acquire the the properties that are associated with Commonwealth Health currently. I'm sure you're you're very aware of we we were concerned what this body is concerned with is the loss of tax revenue. We definitely want to see services for our people. Without a doubt, that's the top priority. However, that always comes the the the boogeyman is always how do you pay for everything. And so, um I think for me, it makes a little more palatable knowing that we're not going to say goodbye to that extra revenue if that's not in the plans. So we can continue the dialogue about that the the regular transaction. We are only taking over the CHS.

Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Mr. Sabino, what other municipalities have you guys approached before us? None. Okay. The previous the previous entity wasn't tenor. The previous entity was I believe their name was Woodbridge. Yes. This is But you've you've not approached any other tenor has not approached any other municipality prior to us. No. Okay. Okay. Mr. Ross, and I think this one's for Dr. Clark, if I could. So, Dr. Clark, how does

uh Mr. Clark, how does how does Tenor plan to increase physician salary? It seems like that's a real commanding issue here with where we're headed in the hospital industry in the Northeast. We're we're already positioned very well for physician recruitment. The shortage uh or the uh delta that I was speaking of is with key uh staff in the hospital such as um CT techs and uh cardiac caization techs where where we've lost those folks uh simply because they we were outbid and didn't have the flexibility to answer back. We are very uh well positioned on the physician salaries. Uh gen generally the approach is that we provide the uh full benefits full salary for the first year year and a half and then there's a shared uh metrics where they earn some of their own by staying busy and growing their practices and that uh becomes beneficial to both parties. So we're just anticipating growth then is the answer to the question. How about we meet that balance?

Yes. Over the last three years, uh we have probably lost a dozen to 15 primary care physicians that have not been replaced. Some of those were retirements. Some of those were attracted to work elsewhere. Uh so that's that's one [snorts] of the most critical needs we have is to rebuild our primary care foundation. We have a lot of specialists that need their support as well. And then and you also mentioned about the lab services. So those that have been outsourced, they're not coming back because they've been sold. Correct. They're not leased. It's a that's been terminated that function. Basically,

it uh uh as of December 1st, we will not be offering traditional straight outpatient lab. Uh that was sold as a corporate decision. Um, and it's challenging. We were going to do we will do the best we can. One of the uh one of the benefits is uh the Scranton Regional Market was not included in that sale. So, there's opportunities there to to possibly uh redirect some business from them. It's not going to help out general hospital obviously. So, not to the extent that we had in the past. No.

Very good. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any other questions, council members? Mr. Sabino, is Tener interested in doing a pilot program? Uh, not obviously, as the gentleman in public comment uh earlier said, maybe not in the first year, but is there an opportunity for us to do a pilot program?

Yes. Uh, I think those are those are discussions that we need to have and we would we would welcome those discussions. We we would love the opportunity to talk about what services we can help the the county with um as as well as how we can work together to ensure stability and to replace some of the the loss revenue from the property taxes. Do you have any any examples of that from your other uh municipalities that you work with?

The other municipalities to be honest with you did not approach us about uh pilot programs. not in not in Sharon um not not else elsewhere but we are certainly willing to have conversations about what that would look like with this county.

So are there any any other services specifically that you work with other entities? I know you said you you be able to provide us with services or certain types of things like that. So what we we we did have discussions with the city of Wilsbury about what what we could do together and certainly I made uh a commitment to the mayor of the city that we would uh ensure that whatever tenor could do as a nonprofit provider of healthc care services. what we could do with the city um including perhaps work with the mobile unit that they have um any screenings or or vaccine possibilities and um you know we're we're going to follow up with those with those conversations.

Okay. I think Mr. Thornton has a question. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You hear me? Okay. Yes.

Okay. um this this question goes to the tax revenue that will inevitably eventually be um missing from the uh county coffers. So, um, it's it's a it's a a high tight rope that council needs to walk because on one hand, we we know for sure, I'm 99% sure that the hospital that's there now is not going to survive and they're going to leave town and then we will be left with one major hospital in in the Wolsberry County or Wyoming Valley area anyway. Uh, which is really detrimental to the public's health um serving the community. Uh so that in my opinion we cannot allow that to happen. But on the other hand we have to balance that with the tax revenue we're going to lose. Uh the current hospital pays um a pretty good size property tax to the county. And I believe uh when a not for-profit company comes in, I don't know if all of that tax revenue is forgiven with the new entity or are they going to pay partial or what portion of that? So the questions I have for anybody there in the room tonight and it might be even Miss Rosselle that could answer this. How much tax property tax is currently being paid by the hospital there now? not just on their main buildings but all their other buildings uh on the on the property or the campus that includes uh vacant houses or houses that are being used by staff or whatever. How much what is the total property tax annually that we're receiving from that entity? And then if this deal with tener goes through uh with the municipal bonds and we approve that at a at a future meeting um how will that affect the tax revenue? Will

any tax property taxes be paid to the county from from tenor the the medical group there? And u I just curious to know what those numbers are tonight. Uh, manager Croccom, do you want to Mary Rosselle uh is uh out of uh out of the office uh so she doesn't have access uh to her uh her computer, but uh we can get that number to you. It is significant.

Okay. Whatever whatever that number is. Um to the woman uh at the podium who's been very clear, I thank you for your presentation tonight. Um be being that you you're you're coming in here and you you you want to uh take over this this hospital, do you have any idea of what those tax revenues are or do you have any idea? My second part of the question is do you have any idea of what you would be paying in the way of property tax? Would it be zero or would it be partial? What's the answer to that?

So in terms of the numbers, I I don't have an exact number. I think the the city stated it's a little bit less than $750,000. Um, but what what to as as I stated earlier is that we will have conversations about what the hospital can do moving forward in light of all of the initiatives that we have. What I will say though is because the number of employees has been uh decreasing that those funds are not being seen by the visav payroll taxes that's not coming back into the into the city county um as well as any physical plant or capital expenditures. we we would utilize um lo a combination of local resources at a minimum as well as others to make improvements um that's that hasn't been seen in the region for quite some time. So I think there in in addition to the property tax issue, there are other things that that tenor would be able to bring to the to the community. And again, we can we can talk about these things when we have discussions with with the various um entities [clears throat] about what a pilot would look like.

All right, attorney. Okay. Uh but I I I'm still not clear. Um you mentioned 750,000 for the city. I don't know how that's relevant with us here at the county, but I'm just most concerned about the property tax revenue that's going to be lost. So, I guess the next question would be when you've done like in Sharon when you did the other project, um were you are you paying any property tax to the county there or is it 100% forgiven?

So, for for Sharon, we we it's it's a different uh transaction structure. the real estate is owned by an entity that um that is for profit. So we're we're a lassie in in Sharon. So the county therefore did not lose tax revenue as we would here because this situation is entirely different from Sharon in that there is not a in between entity that is paying the tax. Correct. So Mercer County did re decrease the property taxes there and we are seeking a uh further modification and we're working with Mercer County for that. Um Lacawana County for Scranton has not approached us about a pilot program. They have a larger concern about health care in the region.

Okay. So my question uh to county manager Clark before the next meeting if someone could get us those those numbers uh the tax revenues that are currently being paid in their entirety property tax and payroll tax property taxes that are currently being paid to loan county and then the second question is um when if and when Tener took over what would be the property tax that they would be paying going forward those are the the two numbers that we all should be uh interested in sitting around the table. Thank you. We'll get those for you. All right. Attorney Sche has a question. Yeah.

Oh, I always forget that. Okay. Um I think what a number of we recently uh issued a bond so to to refinance some of our debt and uh obviously we were on the hook for that bond if something would have gone wrong. I think council wants to be sure that in this transaction there's no liability and that we're not standing behind the bonds whatsoever. No, there's not.

See, you forgot too. Yeah, these aren't our bonds. We're just the conduit that they're utilizing to go through. So, we're totally indemnified by the resolutions and a copy of those were made available to you. And so, there there's no liability on the part of the hospital authority uh because we're just being utilized. We're not getting the bond. The bond is just going through us. Right. So then the same with the county. We would have um no liability either.

Correct. And all of the transactions that the hospital authority has ever brought to council or commissioners has always uh we've always made sure that there is no liability on the county or the authority. Okay. So the only issue that if council is concerned [snorts] about that would be the taxes. There's no other liability for the question per the act is whether or not it detrimentally affects the health, safety and welfare of the residents it impacts. Right.

Okay. All right. And then the only reason that there would be a tax change compared to what we have now is because Tener is nonprofit. Well, they are a nonprofit and that's why they could come through our authority. You could speak better as to what the tax implications are of that. I know what they are, but um yes, they are a not for-p profofit. That is clear. And the hospital that's in Scranton, is that already a nonprofit? No, CHS is a for-profit. Correct. Yeah. Okay. CHS is a for-profit. So, all of those hospitals are for-profit. Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. All right. Uh, any So, you could go to Lacawana County. Who? Can you can go to Lacawana County to ask what you're asking us?

No. No. Uh, the Can I explain the reason for that? Yes, please.

So, the series A and Series Bond that went through the loser the Northeastern Pennsylvania Hospital and Education Authority. Those funds are dedicated for the purchase of the Wolsbury General Hospital. And I want to make this very clear because legally it's very important that no funds no funds that are before you today not $1 goes through the acquisition or goes toward the acquisition of regional or Moses Taylor. If it did, then I would have to come here for the TE for hearing and the approval and I would have to go to Lacawana County for a TE for hearing and approval as well because then the Internal Revenue Service would be very upset that they were giving tax-free money and it wasn't being used for the purposes as it was set forth in the resolutions. So, no, all of the money we're talking about today is for Wolsbury General Hospital only. So, will there also have to be a bond done in Lacawana County?

No, there is no bond done in Lacawana County. All of the funds they're using is to purchase Wolsbury General Hospital, but they're getting all the hospitals. They're getting all the hospitals, but they're not using tax-free money to buy those hospitals. Did that explain? How how are the Lacawana County hospitals being acquired? I'll let Bart Plank answer that cuz he's handling the funding for the hospital.

So, I think as it was commented previously, um Community Health System um has been on um divevestature uh trend. Uh I can't remember what the numbers were that were cited, but they've been selling hospitals to pay off their credit facility. um they've been trying to figure out uh how to exit gracefully the Pennsylvania market of these three hospitals. And so the the the hospital acquisition is a package purchase of the three hospitals depending on how you want to count the Scranton hospitals as one or two. Uh the Scranton facilities um operationally have been losing money. So there really is not a a purchase price per se associated with it. So the the proceeds from the bonds that we're looking to get approved are strictly for the purchase of the Wilsberry Hospital. And I think it's also important to understand that the revenues um from that hospital solely are and the and the mortgages that the lender will get are solely for the benefit of those bonds and that bond holder which will be Rosemar Asset Management. Similarly, those revenues are going to stay in the Wilsberry the tenor Wilsberry regional 501c3. So those monies the the lender is very focused on that money staying in this community for that hospital and not going to support the operations at Scranton. Rada and the tenor team will have more of a system approach like as Commonwealth is now. That's how they think about the assets, but the the profitability will remain in your community in that 501c3 really in in perpetuity.

Uh [clears throat] so again though, how are the Lacawana County hospitals being acquired? Are there the Luzar County Hospital? There's no there's no there's no purchase price. So they're they're being essentially given to Yeah. to tener. Yeah. Okay. All right. Any other council members have questions? I I do, Mr. Let Miss Stevenson and then Mr. Thorne. Thank you.

Um so from all of your point of views, what are the potential consequences or challenges um that might negatively impact this community that you may be perceiving before implementing Tener Health in Wolsbury? Oh, I think Michael for Yeah. [clears throat] So, my hospital and the hospitals in [snorts] uh Scranton went through an attempted sale over a year ago. Each time you go through one of those processes, it's trying. It's uh stressful for my staff. it uh leads the community to be unsure of the future of the hospital. This is the first time that an entity has come forward that has the wherewithal to make this uh sale go through. Uh some people [snorts] mistakenly think that there's people on the sideline waiting for this to fall through and then they'll come in, swoop in and buy the hospitals. There's been at least 10 or 15 different entities that have looked at the purchases and have never gone any further. So, it's not like there's a Jefferson that's just waiting just to come in. They'd be not for profit as well. Uh Ginger can't purchase. They'd be not for profit, but they would couldn't uh couldn't purchase because of the monopoly issues. So it's not as if there's a lot of folks that are wanting to buy hospitals in um in struggling markets. So I think we are very fortunate that we have a group that has put together a very viable opportunity.

I may not have directly answered your question. The potential is that uh I think and it was stated reasonable hospitals would close rather rapidly. Uh I think our hospital would survive but it would continue to uh lose market share would continue to have to look at critical service closures. You have any other questions, Miss Stevenson? All right, Mr. Thornton.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh and this is questions for the gentleman at the podium. Um so I I have a long history and background in municipal bond issuance and uh sometimes uh the owner uh of the bonds um and the and the borrowing entity because just for everybody's edification there a bond is just a loan and it's money that a bond is floated out there with the public. The public invest

and they get a a tax-free interest in return. That's why the public wants to invest in these bonds and the bond provides an enormous amount of revenue in this case for tenor to go forward with the purchase and and and to start their uh hospital. But the the question I have on occasion sometimes the bond issuer or or the entity that that that's receiving the revenue from them, they go bankrupt and and the bond uh defaults. And when there's a default in a bond, uh many times the the the investors who invest in that bond are not paid back. My question is uh here and I'm not thinking that's going to happen here because Tener sounds like a very well-run organization. Um but since Tener will be overseeing the hospital operations in Scranton Moses Regional uh up there, what happens if those two hospitals in Scranton fail miserably say three, four, five years from now and they become quite a large financial burden on Tenor. uh could have possibly impact Tener's bottom line then which would naturally impact the running of the Wolsair General Hospital and and could possibly impact the uh payment of those municipal bonds. Um, I'm wondering if that were to have happened if the Lacawana County hospitals became terribly uh distressed financially and how that would possibly affect [clears throat] Lutheran County and and and and possibly hurt hurt us uh liabilitywise. That's what I'm concerned about.

Uh this is uh Bart Plank from KB brother. So um as I had mentioned that the two entities are completely separate. So, uh, were the Scranton Hospitals to fail or go into bankruptcy, uh, there would be no impact to, uh, Wilsberry, uh, there would be no impact to those bonds. I think um Brian to your point or observation um could you make a case that uh Tenor as a management company um would be distracted or otherwise be spending time at Scranton that could be devoted to Wilsberry. I suppose you could um make that inference but you know again um hospital management companies um manage you know all over the country manage many different hospitals. a lot of them do it across uh all across the country in different states. Um obviously Rada and her team dedicate time to Sharon Regional and making sure that's successful. Um so you know I I can only say that they would try and dedicate their time um as appropriate to each of the facilities that they manage which is in their 501c3 charter. But from a financial perspective and again as I had tried to articulate previously uh the lender here is also very concerned to be sure that Wilsberry as as currently as a ver as a profitable hospital remains profitable and has those resources reinvested. Well, first of all to pay back their the loan um and then secondarily to continue to invest in in the operations uh and keep the quality and the profitability of will

[clears throat] All right, Brian, are you any other questions? Mr. Thornton, I'm good. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else questions? Uh, Mr. Hos, did you have a question or two? Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, I was just thinking for Mr. Plank again. So, I the the hospital acquisitions, it's just to two totally separate entities from this general acquisition. Correct. So there's essentially effectively a tenor uh Wilsberry 501c3 and a tenor Scranton 501c3. Okay.

And obviously CHS's goal in this or I shouldn't say obviously I guess you could consider the speculation. They want to exit the Pennsylvania market, receive a purchase price, um, and not leave closed hospitals, you know, in in their wake because they do continue to be a publicly traded hospital management company. So, it's not great for your reputation to be a hospital management company and have hospitals, you know, close under your watch.

I mean, we appreciate that continuum of service for our neighbors, of course. You know, we want to see them succeed. Um, support the staff and all all the clients are going to use it. I mean perhaps though knowing that that this act the that the bond issue is going to really benefit the hospital in the long term. Press Missil you can keep that in mind when you negotiate with Louis County that in in Lacawana County it's a different it's it's a different financing structure right so um if this council approves the bond issue uh that that's a win-win it's helping out out your group obviously and it's helping out our our hospital situation here but again we our bottom line like Mr. Thornton's been talking about is the tax base that that um you know it's it's a big hit. It's a big hit to us. But thank you sir. Appreciate.

I I would just say with respect to that um I think it's worth and and Roda feel free to weigh in understanding that um you know Tenor Health Foundation is not a not for profofit that has hund00 million in the bank. They're they're working here on their mission. They're providing you know I think what we would refer to as as sweat equity to make these hospitals work. uh you know, we start um day one with a balance sheet that has uh is funded by by debt. The $25 million taxable loan is essentially funding cash at Wilsberry as a starting point. Uh because this may be too technical, but with revenue cycle and a hospital, you don't, you know, we we don't go to the hospital and walk out like we do at the supermarket and pay and pay money at the door. Um, so I think what what Rada and the tenor team are saying is as they grow the balance sheet, add add cash and liquidity to the operations there to have a stable environment and maintain the profitability and grow the services that then there would be an appropriate time I think for them to have a discussion about the pilot and and provide money, you know, back to the community in that in that way. But it's it's not like we're sitting here saying we've we've got, you know, tens of millions of dollars and we don't want to want to give it to anybody. That it's it's quite the opposite. [clears throat]

Okay. Anything else, council members? All right. Thank Thank you all very much for your time. We appreciate uh you know, every answer you gave us. Uh this will definitely help us in our our decision. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Okay. Next up, we have Go. You want to take a break? Okay. All right. We'll take uh it's 7:59. Uh we'll take a 10-minute break. We'll come back at 10 after 8 with budget information. Good morning. No, not here. Hi, Karen.

Oh, good guy.

I got to change it. Oh, thank you. What's going

Yeah, we're swamped. Of course, just never gets better. Oh, you you're almost done. Free at last. Be as short as humanly possible.

Yeah. There we are.

All right, council members, it's 10 after 8. Please return to the uh meeting room. Sorry. Push this along. Okay. Yo, kids. Let's go.

Get James out here, too. Okay, I'll try. Not literally. We've just had that. All right, council members.

All right, it's 8:11 p.m. Um, call the meeting back to order. Um, we did have one other agenda item that we skipped. Uh, number four, which was discussion regarding a minimum bid policy to the real estate proposal packet for the purchase of Luzern County owned property. Um, Miss McDerm, you just want to go over that quickly if you can.

Uh, yes. So, currently any of the county-owned property that we are trying to sell, we have never had a minimum bid. So, it's a great idea to have a minimum bid. Uh, but the we have 25% in there, which I think is a lot. these properties have been sitting uh doing nothing. Most of the time they're just little corner pieces or uh something that's just adjacent to a property owner who may be interested in purchasing it. Um if we put a minimum bid, uh I think that's good. And then if there's something that we think is worth more, we could always revisit that and ultimately county council does decide how much to spend or how much they want to sell it for. Uh so I would say I'd like to make an amendment to change that to 10%. Not that it's, you know, we're not voting on today, but I would just say 10% is better than the 25%. Again, a lot of these assessed values are still very high. Uh the property really is not worth much. Um, you know, they're just sitting there doing nothing. So, it'd be better to sell them and get them on the the tax rolls.

Okay. Any questions on that? I support that, too, because and we come from an era, Mr. chairman when the assessed value the the bids were way low and county lost a lot of revenue on on some properties they just they just dumped. So, okay support that 100%. All right. Any other comments? All right. Thank you very much. We'll now move into the budget work session. First up, we have division 12 district attorney's office.

Good evening everybody. Thank you for having me. Um, I think if you have uh our our written proposals, uh, my fiscal clerk Sherry did an excellent job of putting the uh in the notes exactly the explanation for changes. Uh, there were just a few minor things I I wanted to hit. I'd like to thank manager Crocomo and uh, Mary Rosselle for working with Sherry. We did I think we did a pretty good job nailing this budget down. Um, I'm happy to report that we're going to be well within our 2025 budget. Uh, I'm happy to report that for budgetary purposes. I am not happy to report it because I'm down 16 people and the vacancies are largely responsible for that. So, thank you to my staff who uh goes above and beyond to make sure that the work gets done. Uh even though we're we're very short on people, uh the state budget [cough and clears throat] or lack of a state budget is having an adverse effect on my office in the sense that uh our dispersements from the state that help us run the drug task force have not been coming in. So we have been trying to make do to see that they can continue to fight uh the drug trafficking issues in Lzern County. Uh I know one area that we we talk about at length it seems every budget year is a capital case uh line item. I can say that there are multiple cases that look like they are going to be capital and tried next year. Um so uh hopefully that line item uh remains the same. And then lastly kind of the elephant in the room is the airport. Uh I would like to thank manager Crocomo who has been very supportive of having police at the airport. I can't can't believe that in 2025 we're having a discussion about not putting police officers in an airport. Uh but uh the funding has become the issue. I am continuing to go to our federal government to hope that they will reinstitute the funding that caused us uh uh to get reimbursed before and also um I know we've been working with

manager Crocomo uh different discussions about you know how that fee can be split up and loan county can get some of its money back from uh that program. It's basically being funded because of the vacancies in my office right now. I'm happy to answer any questions, but if unless there's something specific you wanted me to talk about, I'm happy to do that.

Uh yeah, I I actually just have two questions on um so in the uh line item 560.60 for dues and memberships. Um it is at uh the budget is for 37,200 this year, this coming year. And um currently you've only spent 9,747. In 2024 the adopted amount was 28,400 and you spent 24,000. Um is there a reason for the increase? Um I'm thinking that the cost of subscriptions is is that the one you're looking at?

Dues and memberships. And I I was going to ask about subscriptions as well. Okay. Um, so dues and memberships are the fees for all the different associations that we belong to, namely the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. Um, so that's calculated based on uh based on whatever numbers they tell us. Uh, the subscriptions actually includes uh things that uh for evidence. So for example, there's a subscription fee to uh download cell phones, know the software that allows us to do things like that. Uh, we have a subscription fee for our total scan that recreates crime scenes. Um, I think the um CVSA subscription is in there. So, there are all these different things that we need to investigate cases.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other questions? Just one, Mr. Chair. Go ahead. Hey, attorney. Just airport security. The line item for airport security is in is in wages and salaries. It's in Oh, it's in plane wages and salaries. What's What's the bottom line for that? 12,000 a month. So, 144 a year. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other questions? All right. All right. Thanks. Painless. I want to thank the district attorney for everything that he does uh for Lutheran County. Uh we're very fortunate to have him as our chief law enforcement officer. Thank you very much.

Thanks everyone. Mhm. And we will be having a meeting with Lacawana County on November 19th about the LEO agreement. [clears throat] Okay. Next up, we have uh judicial records. Attorney Radic,

before uh Paula begins, I just want to uh just want council to know some of the advances that uh judicial services and the personitaries office uh specifically uh has uh achieved uh over the last year and some of the plans going forward. Uh, we streamlined the stale case list with 257 cases terminated and 42 proceedings from an original number of 1,123. I'm saying this because uh Paula probably won't uh self uh report all these achievements. uh and Molly uh we automated the bail forfeite account in the CPCMS system turning the refund of bill forfeertures from a manual process into an automated process. This needs eliminates the need to type checks and get manual signatures from authorized signers. We completed an IQS that's our uh prothonetary viewer uh vendor a refresher training course for all members of the department both the prothonetary and the clerk of course members. Just want to remind everybody one of the goals of home rule was to crossrain uh the proonetary and the court administrators and they did it. Paul and Molly actually did it. We hired three new staff members and uh promoted a current employee to clerk three to be an administrative assistant. Um uh we have uh plans uh in for 2026 uh which include um uh e-iling appeals. So, what we're going to do is be able to send the transcripts

and every all the docket documents to the appellet court via electronic uh means rather than putting them in big boxes. First of all, making copies, putting putting them in boxes, and sometimes it's many boxes in medical malpractice cases and shipping them via mail to the appellet courts who sometimes don't receive the documents. So, we have to send them again. Sometimes documents are torn or they're coming out of the box. So, uh, we are working with the administrative, uh, offices of the Pennsylvania courts to send everything, um, electronically and to streamline the appeal process. That will eliminate postage costs, uh, losing documents, and it will also free up our staff to do other work. Uh so uh we're also doing the CPCMS which is the uh criminal uh state system and the system use for dependency. We're doing all the in training inhouse for all members of the uh uh department and uh we're enhancing our emailing and uh electronic filing. Uh so we will try to mirror the federal courts system as much as possible. Uh and these are not only time savers but uh they increase efficiencies and uh I'm very proud of both Paula and uh Molly. Molly, why don't you stand up?

Thank you both. Okay. Thank you, manager Kokamo. Um, am am I on? Yep, you're on. Okay. Sorry.

Um, I also have my other managers here from my departments. If there is something that I can't answer, I have the coroner Dion Fernandez and uh Mary Dleski from the recorder of deeds and the register of wills and Jim Duscavage is also here from the Personary's office. Um, and I'm missing someone, the sheriff who's standing behind me. Um and Butch from the records retention unfortunately had a health issue so he is not here this evening. Um we have uh basically I'll I'll give you the highlights. Um uh our proposed revenue um exceeds our proposed expenses by um uh over $300,000. um are we should be getting an upward swing in our fees and that could be attributed to the certified marriage license and probate fees which are increasing um bail poundage as manager Crocomo touched on. We have increased collections on that and um that has uh that has expanded exponentially um and predicted at uh 361,700 for uh that was our 2025. Um and our proposed for 2026 is 500,000. Um, we have some scanning projects which we are looking into doing with our 501 um, accounts which are automation accounts that we get um, the fees for and that money goes automatically into that account and we um, we're only allowed to use that for certain things. Um, our advertising budget has gone up uh, exponentially because it's costing us more and more in order to advertise and um, we are required by statute to advertise. So unless they change that um

we have to continue that. [sighs] Um let's see what else advertising and um we have some uh the sheriff for the sheriff's office. We have some um expansion in the uh meeting conference and training fees. Um there are some reertifications that have to be done in the next year um in order to keep our office up to date and and that has raised that um by about a little over $7,000. I mean that's basically um that's the highlights. I would be happy to answer any questions that you have

from my one chair. Any any questions from council members? Mr. Hi, attorney R. Good to see you again. You too. Thanks for coming. Um, look at the very first page with revenue under judicial records, recorder of deeds. You can speak to that line item 400.25, the transfer tax the I'm sorry, are you on my one sheet or are you on the budget? I'm the budget. I'm sorry. The budget. The budget. And I'm sorry. Uh,

so it's it's page one, council members, and it's the revenue side for the reporter of deeds office of deeds office. Do you have a page number? Um, no. [clears throat] There's no, it's the very first one in the I can give you. It's the very first one under the judicial services tab.

Make sure we have the same. You're on the 100. Okay. General fund. Okay. So, I'm sorry. What was your

Sorry. So, just for the edification everybody out there, it's 1% every time a property is sold, it's a 1% tax that comes to the county. And, um, so in 2024, um, our telescope version has 367,65 coming in. The actuals for 2025 are 226,000 and the budget for this next year is 330,000. So, it looks like we're on target for meeting that 330 for sure for 2025. Do you think that could be higher because the the market's still pretty hot. It's still a sellers market. I think it's it's possible. Um I I think I would defer to Mary, but I I think I would have asked Mary directly in the break.

I think it's possible, but I think we try to air on the side of caution because we're not sure. We don't know what we can't predict the market as as we're all aware. So, and I ask those kind of questions all the time. But, um, I wish I had a a magic ball that I Mr. Slesi could speak to it. I'd h happily hear from her, but I want to put you on the spot. I have to say is even though the market is still high, there's not as many going on. So, that kind of keeps it a little bit lower than you might expect, but the considerations are high, but not as many. So, we've seen like a decrease in

correctum. Whe that will change when the mortgage rates change a little bit more and they'll be more transferous. I don't know. You're correct. They are still high as far as consideration. Councilman, it's a downtrend. We took a a more conservative approach to some of these numbers and this this is one of them. And that's responsible budgeting, but you know, I'm a politician trying to squeeze out every drop and we know we know this. We know this. But thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Sleski. Thank you, Paula. All right. Anybody else questions? All right. Thank you, Attorney Radic. Thank you. All right, moving right along. Good evening. Operational services

trial by fire, right? Your first your your first official act. That's you. [laughter]

Um so for 2026, there are going to be four uh adjustments in salaries. um the senior GIS analyst, the director of project management, facilities capital projects engineer and infrastructure maintenance engineer. Um other than that, um I have there are lots of departments in operations. Um but the main changes if you look at the one page for operations, a lot of the adjustments that you'll see are because we've moved GIS and planning from admin services to operations. So that that accounts for for quite a bit of the changes. Um I believe it may be a little confusing on the second page of the one sheet where it is um wages representative wages represented. There's a 14% change but if you look at the narrative I think that was just carried over from one position. So I did verify with Caitlyn Holland earlier. Um so this line item accounts only for the 100 fund. Uh it accounts for there was a 2% a 2.5% increase per the collective bargaining agreement. Um there was additional money like we talked about with the change from mapping and admin and then overall it was reduced by another five positions through retirement or or you know leaving the county. So we are it's it's down but it's not if that makes sense. Uh you'll notice if you look through each department a lot of the utilities we have increased because everything else is going up. Um one of the specific line items is to run um internet at the road and bridge garages because we've had some issues with the employees needing to clock in and out. So that that is a new account. Um I don't know if you have specific questions.

Council members, any questions? I know there's a lot of departments to look over here. Anything specific? I know you'll also [clears throat] notice not in the 100 fund, but the other accounts, you'll notice that there are large um increases percentage-wise, and it's just because we're carrying over more money this year than we had last year. So, that's another big ticket change. Okay. Uh Mr. Septino. Um, I have a a 911 related question. Maybe Miss Morgan can answer. How much funding are we getting from the 911 search charge right now?

Or Bill? Uh, right now it's on every

Thank you. for renewable as thank you. Do you want to touch on that bill that it's important if we don't get that money? Yes. Uh it is very important. I mean that's Bill. Can you if you're going to keep speak can you just go up to the microphone so the audience can hear you on the on the Zoom else Mr. Thornton is going to get mad.

Uh yes that funding is very important to us. I mean obviously if we don't get it uh that's $8.3 million that the county has got to come up with to fill that gap. Um there's a couple different options for next year on the table already. Obviously let it drop and not get the money. Uh keep it the same at $1.95 per phone or go up to I think they're looking at $2.20 per phone. So that would be a nice increase. Uh who authorizes that? Uh that's Puma. Okay. So the state legislator. Yes. Thank you. Any other questions? Thanks. Nope.

All right. Anything else? Uh, Mrs. Spar, I just have one quick one. Go ahead, Mr. Chair. Hi, Mr. Spar. Welcome. Thank you. Same same thing as Mr. Ratic. The very first page in your report um in the in the council binder, everybody. It's operational services 4174 buildings and grounds and the line item is 460.28. It's expense reimbursement. Just want to know if you could clarify what exactly that is. That Nick, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that is because we're not getting reimbursed from um 111 Pennsylvania Avenue. Um I believe uh human services was reimbursing us for some supplies and some time related to that, but I don't I believe that's what the change is.

It is. Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other questions by council members? All right. All right. I mean, if you think of any, not that I want to make more work, but for myself, but if you think of any, let me know. Thank you. Yeah. Council members have any questions, as always, you can send an email to the division heads. They'll Thank you. Happily answer them. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. Finally, we have uh controller controller Griffith. Yep.

And everybody has a copy of my budget. If there's any questions, I'll answer the questions. It's pretty simple, straightforward budget. It's an increase of $4,000 because of salary uh increases on the non-represented and the Well, we don't have an increase in the represented because they don't have a contract yet. So, so if anybody has any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer. Any questions for the I was wondering if the controller elect insight onto the budget for next year since he will be holding the office. No, I would like to call the controller elect to the podium to speak if that would be okay with the chair. I I'd be okay with that. Sure.

It's not his budget, but you could call him. Okay. All right. Mr. McInley, would you like to speak on [clears throat] the budget for next year? Thank you.

First of all, thank you, Council. I know you have a lot of work to do with the budget and I appreciate that and uh good luck with it because it's not easy. I also would like to say I'm looking forward to coming back to work uh in the county and hopefully we can have a very good working relationship. Obviously, uh Mr. Griffith has put together his budget and there's some questions there that probably are going to surface as we go through there. I'm asking the council if they would allow a little flexibility in order for me to be able to look at it closely, talk to some of the staff and people who would have a a part of that and then maybe come back to the council and ask some small revisions. I understand that you know you have a money issue. Uh obviously when you have a tax increase everybody's very concerned. So you you know I will be very honest and straightforward and will make no uh requests without very much the documentation that would be necessary. Um I've looked at the budget. Uh I think there's a couple things you know obviously that there's been a vacancy in that office. So that salary has not been paid and the appropriate uh fringe benefits that go with that. So, it's a little hard to justify some of the salary right now until you have a fully staffed office.

Okay. You have any again, do you have any other any other suggestions immediately that you've observed or is something that you'll have to come to us after speaking to the staff? I need to talk to a few people to get some more information. Uh if I have anything I will certainly forward it to um chairman and then you can take care of distributing to the parties involved. All right. All right. Any other questions? Thank you very much, Mr. McIll. Thank you. Controller Griffith, you have any anything else you wanted to speak on? Okay. Ask the current controller a question. Yep.

Yeah. Mr. Controller, um brought up a couple I guess it was just last meeting about the if you wanted to perform an audit on the Bureau of Tax Assessment Appeals, right? Okay. Just heard some reports that um in this in this very hot economy that we're selling a lot of properties, valuations are actually been um ratcheted down. So if you could take a look at that in the last couple months. Yep. Thank you. That's all I I have nothing else. All right. Thank you very much. All right. Public comment. [clears throat and snorts] Anybody public comment? Anybody on the Zoom? Do we have a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn.

All in favor? I opposed. Meetings adjourned. Thank you very much everybody.