County Council - Regular Meeting

To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Okay. Roll call, please. Miss Lawrence. Mr. Hos, I see you on there, but Mr. Luscavage here. Miss McDermott here. Mr. Perry Mr. Sabatino here. Miss Smith here. Miss Stevenson here. Mr. Thornton here. Mr. Willovitz here. Mr. Lombardo here. 11 of 11.

Thank you. Uh before we get started with the uh motions for the agenda, uh Attorney Scheme, would you mind announcing the executive session, please? Certainly. Prior to this meeting, we had an executive session wherein we discussed an employment contract and two union contracts um MOAS for current contracts and a litigation matter uh for settlement. Thank you. Thank you, Attorney Scheme. Okay. Any deletions from voting session agenda? Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? All in favor?

Opposed? Agenda is adopted. We'll now have public comment on voting session agenda items only. I have no slips up here. Is there anybody in the audience that would like to comment on voting session agenda items only? Bless you. Anybody in the audience? Is there anybody on the Zoom that would like to comment on voting session agenda items only? All right. Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the July 8th, 2025 voting session? So moved. Second. Motion in a second. All in favor? I I

opposed. Minutes are approved. We'll now move on to the agenda. Number one, motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the county manager to execute a contract with McCarthy Tire Service for fleet service, truck, and equipment maintenance, and repairs of county owned vehicles. Second. Motion and a second. Roll call. Mr. Hos. Mr. Hos. Yes, Miss Krishnowski. Yes, Mr. Luscavage. Yes, Miss McDermott. Yes, Mr. Perry. Mr. Sabatino. Yes, Miss Smith. Yes, Miss Stevenson. Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Will? Yes. Mr. Lombardo?

Yes. unanimous. Number two, motion to adopt the resolution authorizing the county manager to jointly apply with Carbon County for a multimotal transportation grant. So moved. Second. There's a motion and a second. Uh second. Okay. Miss Stevenson. Okay. Motion and a second. Roll call. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Mr. Luscavage? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Miss Smith? Yes. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton. Yes. Mr. Will. Yes. Mr. Haw.

Mr. Mr. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Lombardo. Uh, yes. Unanimous. Thank you. Number three. Motion to adopt the resolution authorizing the county manager to execute a contract with Source. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Uh, roll call. Mr. Scavage. Yes. Miss McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss Smith. Yes. Miss Stevenson. We're going. Yes. Mr. M. Krishnowski. Going even higher. Yes. Mr. Hos. Did you say yes?

Yes. Thank you. Mr. Lombardo. Yes. Unanimous. Number four. Motion to adopt the resolution approving the settlement of pending litigation in the matter of Michelle Castner versus Luzernne County. Second. Motion and a second. Roll call. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Miss Smith? No. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? No. Mr. Wovich? Yes. Mr. Hos? No, Miss Krishnowski. Yes. Mr. Lcgavage. No. Mr. Lombardo. Yes.

Seven. Yes. Four. No. Passes. Number five. Motion to adopt the resolution approving a modification to an American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded project for the Hazelton City Land Bank. So moved. Second. Okay. Motion and a second. Roll call. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Savatino. Yes. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Willow, yes. Mr. Hos, no. Miss Krishnowski, yes. Mr. Lcgavage, yes. Miss McDermott, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. 10 to one passes.

Number six, motion to adopt the resolution approving a modification to an American American Rescue Plant Act funds awarded project for the Jewish Community Alliance of Northeastern Pennsylvania. So moved. Second. motion and a second. And just on a question, go ahead. I just got on this. I would have asked earlier. Yep. This this was an issue last year for a long time. Um, was that all resolved? Was is booth management in full support of this? Uh, yeah, I was going to say manager Crocomo, you have Yes. Uh, we vetted uh all the documents through Booth and they approved. Hello. I didn't see you down there. I snuck in. I was stealthlike.

Thank Thank you for your answer. All right. Any other questions? Roll call. Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Miss Smith? Yes. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Wovit? Yes. Mr. Hos. Yes. Mr. Miss Kishnowski? Yes. Mr. Luscavage? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Lombardo. Yes. Unanimous. Number seven. Motion to adopt the resolution approving a proposed me memorandum of understanding between Luzernne County and ASME District Council 87. Is there one second? Second motion and a second on the question. Attorney.

Yes. For both of these for both seven and eight. Uh I would just ask that we do an amendment to the resolution to allow us to put in residual and not courtappointed. All right. Is there a motion on number seven to replace uh courtapp appointed with residual? So moved. Second. All right. There's a motion and a second on the amendment. Roll call. Miss Smith. Miss Smith. I heard you. I'm sorry. I'm just looking. Where was it? I'm sorry. In the title. Oh, yes. The Stevenson. Yes. Mr. Mr. Tharton. Yes.

Mr. Wovit. Yes. Mr. Hos. Yes. M. Krishnowski? Yes. Mr. Luscavage? Yes. M. McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Yes. Unanimous. Okay. The amendment passes. There's a motion in a second. Is everybody still okay with their motion and second? With the amendment. Roll call. M. Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Wovitz? Yes. Mr. H.

Mr. Hos. Yes. Miss Kushnowski. Yes. Mr. Lascavage. Yes. Miss McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss Smith. Yes. Mr. Lombardo. Yes. Unanimous. Number eight. Motion to adopt the resolution approving a proposed memorandum of understanding between Luzernne County and ASME District Council 87. Motion. Second. Okay. Motion in a second on the question. The same change. Okay. So moved. Second. Okay. There's a motion and a second for the change to residual. Um roll call. Mr. Thornton. Yes. Mr. Wovit. Yes. Mr. Haw.

Yes. Miss Krishnowski, yes. Mr. Lcgavage, yes. Miss McDermott, yes. Mr. Perry, Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Okay, there's a motion in a second. Roll call on the amended resolution. Mr. Will, yes. Mr. Hos, no. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Mr. Lascavage? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes, Mr. Perry. Mr. Sabatino. Yes, Miss Smith. Yes, Miss Stevenson. Yes, Mr. Thornton. Yes, Mr. Lombardo. Yes. 10 to one, it passes.

Thank you. Okay, starting with the nominations for appointments to boards and commissions. First, we have Luzar County Farmland Preservation Board. Is there a motion to open nominations? So, move second. Motion is second. All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are open. Like to nominate Mr. Matthew Scheler. Is there is there a second on Mr. Scheler? Okay. Motion to a second for Mr. Scheler. Second. All in favor? Motion to close nominations. Motion to close. Thank you. All right. Nominations are closed. We have one nomination for one person. Uh we'll now have the resolution for Mr. Scheler. Uh is there a motion?

I move to appoint Mr. Scheler to the Farmland Preservation Board. Second. Who seconded it? I didn't hear her. Leanne. Okay. Miss Mcder. All right. Motion to second. Roll call. Mr. Hos.

Mr. Hos. Yes. Miss Kushnowski. Yes. Mr. Luscavage. Yes. Miss McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss Smith. Yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wovitz, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. All right. Next up, Luzar County Board of Tax Assessment Appeals. Is there a motion to open nominations? Motion open. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? I. Opposed? Nominations are open. We have one nomination. One open seat. I would like to nominate Ann Bradberry. Second that nomination. Motion and a second. Miss Bradberry. Any other nominations? Motion to close.

Second. All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are closed. Is there a Is there a motion for the resolution for Miss Bradberry? Motion. Second. All right. Motion in a second. Roll call. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Mr. Lavage? Yes. M. McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Sabatino? Yes. Miss Smith? Yes. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes, Mr. Wovich. Yes, Mr. Hos. Yes, Mr. Lombardo. Yes, unanimous. All right, thank you. Next up, we have Luzern County Children and Youth Advisory Board Board. We have two terms. Motion to open nominations. Some moved. Second.

Motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are open. I like to nominate Kathleen Balakir. Motion a second for Miss Bakir. Like to nominate Miss Weber. Second. Motion a second for Miss Weber. Motion to close. All right. Second. Motion in a second. All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are closed. Um since there's only two spots and there's seven spots and there's there are two people. We'll just if we could vote on both of them or I'm sorry. No, you can just do each resolution. All right. Let's do the resolution for Miss Balakir first. So move to appoint Miss Balakir. Motion in a second. Roll call. Mr. Lavage,

yes. Mr. Lumb, excuse me, Miss McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry, Mr. Savatino, yes. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wovich, yes. Mr. Hos, yes. Miss Kishnowski, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. All right. Next, we'll have the resolution for Miss Weber. Motion and a second for Miss Weber. Roll call. Miss McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss Smith? Yes. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Will? Yes. Mr. Hos? Yes. Miss Kushnowski?

Yes. Mr. Luscavage? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Yes. Unanimous. Thank you. Next up, we have Luzar County Planning Commission. Is there a motion to open nominations? So move. Second. Motion in a second. All in favor? Opposed? Nominations are open. We have one term. I'd like to nominate Mr. Syndico. Second. Mr. Syndico. Motion to close. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Nominations are closed. We'll have the resolution for Mr. Syndico. So moved. Second. Motion a second. Roll call. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss Smith? Yes. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton. Yes. Mr. Wovich, yes. Mr. Hos,

yes. Miss Krishnowski, yes. Mr. Luscavage, yes. Miss McDermott, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Okay. Next up, we have the Recreational Facilities Advisory Board. Is there a motion to open? Second. All in favor? I. Opposed? Nominations are open. Like to nominate Mr. Charles Jones. Motion a second. Any other motion to close? Second. All in favor? Mr. Schuler's already appointed. Mr. Schuler was already appointed. Yeah, Mr. Scheler was already nominated. So therefore, he's not eligible for the uh other nominations. Who was the first to close? Who was the first? Mr. Motion to close. I seconded it. All right. Motion and second to close. All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are closed.

We'll now have the resolution for Mr. Charles Jones. So move for Mr. Jones to be appointed to the second recreational facilities advisory board. Second. Motion a second. Roll call. Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Willovich? Yes. Mr. Hos? Yes. Miss Kushnowski? Yes. Mr. Luscavage? Yes. Miss McDermott? Yes. Mr. Perry? Yes. Mr. Lombardo? Yes. Unanimous. Thank you. Next up, we have the Luzern School Workforce Investment Board. Is there a motion to open nominations? Motion in a second. All in favor? I I

opposed. Nominations are open. We have two spots. Well, we have five spots. We have two people. I I have motion to nominate uh Mr. Anthony Guerrilla. I'll second. Motion to nominate Miss Stephanie Shep. Second. Motion to close nominations. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are closed. We'll have the resolution for Mr. Griglia. Motion. Second. Motion in a second. Roll call. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wovich, yes. Mr. Hos, yes. Miss Krishnowski, yes. Mr. Luscavage, yes. Miss McDermott,

yes. Mr. Perry, Mr. Savatino, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Thank you. We'll now have the nomination for Miss Shup. So moved. Second. Motion in a second. Roll call. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wovich, yes. Mr. Hos, yes. Miss Krishnowski, yes. Mr. Lcavage, yes. Miss McDermott, yes. Mr. Perry, Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Smith, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. All right, guys. We're more than halfway done here. Lern. Uh, next up we have Luzernne. Wyoming County Drug and Alcohol Executive Commission. Motion to open. Second. All in favor?

I opposed. Nominations are open. I'd like to nominate Mr. John McCarthy. Second motion. You can't miss that position. Motion. I don't think she's eligible. Yeah, she's a community member. It would have to be the first or the third one. Motion to close nomination. Okay. Yeah. And Miss Bakir is already on another. Okay. Motion and a second. All in favor? I a second. I'm sorry. Uh I think it was Miss Stevenson. All right. All in favor? I opposed. None. Okay. Got it. Okay. We'll now have the resolution for Mr. McCarthy. So move to appoint Mr. McCarthy to drug and alcohol. Roll call.

Mr. Thornton. Yes. Mr. Wovich. Yes. Mr. Hos. Yes. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Mr. Luscavage? Yes. Miss McDermott, yes. Mr. Perry, Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Pleasure. Thank you. Next up, we'll have Luzern and Wyoming County Mental Health and Developmental Services Program Advisory Board. Uh, we have one term for a pediatrician and one term for a local citizen organization and developmental services. Motion to open nomination. Second. Motion a second. All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are open.

I I I move to appoint uh Scott, Mr. Scott Chris. Okay. For the motion, a second. Anybody else? Motion to approve Dr. Alvaro Remund. Remund. Okay. Second. All right. Motion to close. Second. All in favor? I. Opposed? Nominations are closed. We'll have the nominations for uh first we'll do Mr. uh Ramund just because the pediatrician term is listed first. Some moved. Second. Roll call. Mr. Yes. Mr. Hos. Mr. Hos. Yes.

Miss Krishnowski. Yes. Mr. Lcavage. Yes. Miss McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. All right. Next up, we have the Luzer County Convention Center Authority. Is there a motion to open nominations? Oh, did I? I apologize. All right. We'll have the uh resolution for Mr. Crystal. Is there a motion? Second. Motion in a second. Roll call. Mr. Hos, yes. Mr. Krishnowski, yes. Mr. Lcgavage, yes.

Mr. McDermott, yes. Mr. Perry, Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Smith, yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Wovich, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Thank you. Now we'll have nominations for uh the Luzar County Convention Center Authority. Is there a motion open? All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are open. Like to nominate Mr. Carl Curry. Mr. Curry. Oh, okay. Uh second, Mr. Chairman. All right. Mr. Wovich and then second by Mr. Hos. Any other nominations? Motion to nominate. All right. Second. Motion and a second for Dr. Arjenio.

Motion to close. Second. All right. Motion and a second to close. All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are closed. All right. Uh, we'll go through the council members and state your preference. This is to complete a term, right? This is to complete the term that ends at the end of 2025, December 31st. Yeah. All right. Miss Krishnowski,

Mr. Scavage Miss McDermott Carl Kern Mr. Perry Mr. Sabatino Argio Miss Smith Arino Steven Mr. Thornton Mr. Arjeno Mr. Wovich Mr. Mr. Curran, Mr. Hos, Mr. Curran, and Mr. Lombardo. Uh, Mr. Kern.

That's six for Mr. Kern and five for Mr. Ojeno. So, it will be Mr. Kern. Okay. Thank you. We'll now have the uh resolution for Mayor Kern. Motion. Second. Motion in a second. Roll call. Mr. Luscavage. Yes. Mr. McDermott. Yes, Mr. Perry. Yes, Mr. Sabatino. Yes, Miss Smith. Yes, Miss Stevenson. Yes, Mr. Thornton. Yes, Mr. Loves. Yes, Mr. Hos. Yes, Miss Kishnowski, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous.

Okay, thank you. Now, we'll have uh nominations for Luzern County Industrial Development Authority. We have one term uh ending in 2025 and then two terms ending in 2029. Um I Yeah. Okay. All right. Is there a motion to open nominations? Some move. Second. All in favor? Opposed? Nominations are open. Uh I I suppose I would say we'll start with the term ending in 2025.

Mr. Chair, will we be able to skip with 2025? Yeah, that that actually is probably a better idea now that I looked at the uh that's fine. I'd like to nominate Jonathan Burnhart for uh one of the the terms that expire in 29. Okay. Is there a second? Is there any other nominations? I would like to nominate Jennifer Center for expiration of 123129. Second. All right. Motion and a second. Is there a uh motion to close nominations? All right. Motion and a second. Close the chair. All in favor? I opposed. All right. Nominations are closed. Uh just to once again reiterate, we are not filling the term that ends in 2025.

Okay. First, we'll have the resolution for uh Miss Penna. Second. Roll call. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss Smith? Yes. Yes. Miss Stevenson, yes. Mr. Thornton, yes. Mr. Willovich, yes. Miss Krishnowski, yes. Mr. Hos, yes. Mr. Luscavage, yes. M. McDermott, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous. Thank you. Now, we'll have the resolution for Mr. uh Barnhart. So move. Second. Motion in a second. Roll call. Mr. Sabatino. Yes. Miss Smith? Yes.

Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton. Yes. Mr. Wovich. Yes. Mr. Hos. Yes. Miss Krishnowski. Yes. Mr. Lascavage. Yes. M. McDermott. Yes. Mr. Perry. Yes. Mr. Lombardo. Yes. Unanimous. Thank you. Okay. Now we will have a motion. Uh motion open. Uh Luzar County Transportation Authority. Motion. Second. Motion is a second. All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are open. Oh boy. Okay. Hold. Okay. Hold on a second. Who? Okay. Mr. Lascavage.

Okay. There's a second. Anybody else? Go ahead. Joseph Jones. Okay. All right. We need a second. Is there a second? Okay. Who was the second on Zeller? Uh, the second on Zeller, I believe, was Mr. Perry was it? Okay. Second motion and a second. All in favor? I opposed. Nominations are closed. All right. Uh we'll go through the council members. Uh state your preference, please. Miss Smith,

I'm sorry. Which one are we on? We're on the last one. Uh transportation authority. We have uh Mr. Zeller or Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones, Miss Stevenson, Mr. Thornton, Mr. Zeller, Mr. Wovich, Mr. Zeller, Mr. Hos, Mr. Zeller, Miss Krishnowski, Mr. Lcavage, Mr. Zeller, Miss McDermott, Mr. Zeller, Mr. Perry, Mr. Mr. Savatino, Mr. Zeller, Mr. Lombardo, Mr. Zeller,

eight for Zeller, three for Jones, Mr. Zeller would be the All right. Thank you. We'll now have a motion for the resolution for Mr. Zeller. Motion. Second. Motion in a second. Roll call. Miss Stevenson? Yes. Mr. Thornton? Yes. Mr. Wovich? Yes. Mr. Hos? Yes. Miss Krishnowski? Yes. Mr. Mr. Lascavage, yes. Miss McDermott, yes. Mr. Perry, yes. Mr. Sabatino, yes. Miss Smith, yes. Mr. Lombardo, yes. Unanimous.

All right. Thank you. That's the conclusion of our agenda. We'll now have public comment on non-aggenda items. Anybody in the audience for public comment? Anybody? All right. Anybody on the Zoom for public comment? Uh, we have a hand up. We have Erica Ryell. Can you please just state your municipality? Oh, I'm in Hazelton.

Okay. All right. Go ahead. Um, I was just concerned about the Alterara project and uh, I know they've applied for the permit, but um, I just wanted to state that I'm concerned about the air quality and I I don't know if there's any way to petition the EPA based on their ruling. Um, so I I don't know really where it goes from there, but that that was my main concern.

Okay. Thank you. Uh, Miss Ryel, we have been taking that conversation up in our infrastructure committee. Um, and I know they deferred a uh a vote on it until I believe your next meeting. Is that correct? Okay. So, if you want to watch out for that next infrastructure meeting, they will be discussing it again if you want to uh make any any more uh comments um before then. Anybody else for public comment? All right. Hearing none. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Motion and second. All in favor? Opposed? Voting session is adjourned. It's 6:30. We'll restart at 6:40 with the work session. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Chairman. Oh, okay. Uh, Mr. Hos, go ahead.

I just want to know point of consideration if we can go right into the work session without a quick break. Yeah, a couple a couple people uh need a a quick break. Understood. I apologize. By all means, take it. Yeah, we had a we had we had a long executive session. I apologize, Mr. Hos. Very good. Thank you. Recording stopped. Huh?

It's way I mean I could but that's like forever and ever to do that. That's alphabetized, right? It's alphabetical. So if you look at your thing Yeah. No, no, that's okay. Yeah. So like if you're There it's alphabetical. So if you're looking here and you want show Yeah. Yeah. I mean there would be duplicate applications because of people who are in different I mean it's up to you.

I mean it's it's alphabetical. I mean it's it's and then their names are alphabetical in the packet. Not not based on what they applied for. It's based on their Yeah. So, and then this is alphabetical based on the the board that they're applying for. Yeah. Um the the well the the way it is listed on the agenda is not always the same.

So, you know, I I mean that's like I typically leave that like when I was vice chair, I wouldn't always list them alphabetically depending on like so for example, farmland preservation, we only had one nominee for it. So, I think that's why I think that's was first. So Brian wanted that one first because he wanted to be able to make sure that guy got a position on that because there was only one nomination. So it you know that's usually how that No, no, it's it it is a little confusing. I got I was like yeah no I get it. If it's only like a board or two that's not a problem but like especially No, that was Yeah, that's that's

would take me half a day. It's up to you. You want me to do it?

Okay. Council members, it's 6:40. If we could return to our seats, please.

We want to get the work session started. recording in progress. All right, everybody. In the interest of time, we're going to get started with the uh work session. I know there's one or two council members that are still uh making their way back back into the uh Here we go. Okay. All right. Here they come. We got a quorum.

Yes. All right. I now like to call the uh work session to order. We already had the pledge of alle allegiance and a moment of silence. Roll call, please. Miss Lawrence

here. Mr. Perry Mr. Sabatino here. Miss Smith here. Miss Stevenson here. Mr. Thornton here. Mr. Wovich present. Mr. Haw Mr. You're still there. Okay. And Mr. Lombardo here. 11 pres 11 of 11. Thank you. Are there any additions or deletions from the work session agenda? I have one, Mr. Chairman. Go ahead. Just to change the agenda, can we move item number three, the discussion on the residency to number one tonight? Uh, are council members okay with that? Yeah.

Okay. All right. Everybody's okay with that? Sounds good. Any other additions or deletions? All right. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda? Motion. Second. All in favor? Opposed? Agenda is adopted. With that change? All right. Starting off with the discussion regarding the ordinance amending Lar County Council personnel Code regarding residency requirements for division heads in certain management positions. Uh, Mr. Hos, I imagine you have some comments you want to make. Yeah, the thank you for the grace for everybody. I'm not complete a full meeting. I'm just we're just down with the family, but um I think I made the case pretty succinctly last meeting. Okay. I just I propose that we just make a a very clean change.

Mr. Hos, could Mr. Hos, could you speak a little louder? It's hard to hear you. Yeah, I can. You know, let me um let me just change this up. It's you could barely hear you. Plus, I'm going deaf. I have I have AirPods in and I'm gonna Let me put on speaker. Okay.

Is that better? Uh, not really, but we'll be very quiet while you speak. Is that Is that better, everybody? it it's not really better, but we'll be quiet while you speak because we I mean it's it's a we know your amendment is a clean amendment, so we'll just uh we'll just listen to what you have to say.

Sure. I'm sorry. I'll be very quiet and very quick. I think I made the case pretty specifically last time about the residency requirement that why don't we just make the ordinance very clean and just eliminate it? I know we've had um problems getting full compliments to apply for some of these high level positions and also it takes politics out of the equation if we just open up it to as many qualified people as possible. I don't think anybody in Los County would feel threatened by um having competition from outside. Generally speaking, a lot of um people who apply for these jobs are just literally over the border. But nonetheless, I I want the best for loan county. I think the taxpayers want the best and I think removing the residency requirement just makes that easier for management, for council and for the taxpayers. Um just my two cents and appreciate the consideration from the members

and and would that be the last question? Thank you. Uh Mr. Hos, what what exactly are you proposing as the amendment? Sure. So on the introduction, I would just remove the five years component from the new from the new change. Okay. So, you just strike that last sentence and I think it can pretty much stand by itself. Okay. All right. We All right. We'll uh we'll have to I would say we should make that amendment in uh the council meeting in in our in our voting session uh three weeks from now if that's okay. I don't have a problem with that either. I don't have a problem with that. Yeah. Just so we just so we can you know have the opportunity to make that vote in public and there'll be public here for that discussion. Go ahead, Mr.

Sure. I I just want to make sure it's all it's all legitimate if we're going to put the introduction and put it through that people have a right to see the the amendment in advance. That's all. Yes. Understood. Go ahead. So, if I'm hearing this correctly, we want to remove the residency requirement as a whole completely. So, it's open to whoever whenever continuously. Is that correct? I believe that's Mr. H. So, you're you're saying remove the residency requirement per like just totally

correct. We we debated this at um at the onset of home rule way back in 2016 and it was a 6-5 vote. It was it was a contentious issue, but we went back and forth quite a bit and obviously the one side of the argument said, "Well, look, taxpayers um the the higher levels in our government should be taxpayers." That was that was the big issue. And then the other side, the five of us who did not prevail were just saying, "Well, look, we want the best." And I don't think there's any problem with opening up to the best. any organization um worth it salt does that nationwide and that was the discussion point but to answer Britney your question and word is a yes okay thank you understood any other questions all right thank you Mr. Hos Mr. Chair.

Oh, go ahead. We would be removing uh the words after the employment has obtained five years of continued employment with the county. That's correct. Okay. You also have to fix it now. Therefore, Yep. Yep. And those amendments can be made um at the next voting session. Thank you. Okay. All right. Any other questions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ross. Okay. Moving on to the CLA budget presentation. What? Sorry. Oh, did you have a question? I apologize. Sorry. I think hit the enter button. Hit the button. Make sure that microphone is on too, please. Um, do you see the button? Okay. Thank you for our

Got it.

All right. Good evening, council members. My name is Remy. I am one of the principles with CLA and um I am here today to give you the audit results for the 123124 audit period. I have a slide deck because I am a good accountant and we never leave home without one. Um so I'll be going through this pretty high level, but feel free if you want me to drill down on any particular items and I definitely can do that. Um, we issued our audit opinion on the financial statements June 30th uh in line with uh the requirements in statute. Um, all in all, it was our first year doing the audit for the county. So, uh, a bunch of thank yous obviously to Mary and and her team. Um, you know, as an audit professional, we ask a lot of questions. If I got paid by the question, I would have been retired uh by by now. Um, so it's never easy going through an audit. So I thank the finance team and the various other individuals and departments that have to deal with my team and asking a million questions. Um so the thought behind this presentation uh I'm going to go through and talk a little bit about industry trends things that we see as we uh audit various governments across the country. Um and then go through some of our required communications as well as highlights on some of the financial statement numbers. Um, if you want to jump forward two slides or there you go, you will catch up with me on page four. Um, so, uh, the financial statements, I think I counted on my way up here. We're about 90 pages. So, um, it is a good read. If you can't get to sleep, uh, start on the pension note. Those are about 20 pages of of detailed information. Um, so I'm going to go through some of the high level items in in the financial statements, but again, uh, if you have comments or commentary, please please feel free. Um, slide four is really one of the first industry

trends. Uh, I always start off with there's about three or four core four topics that finance directors across the country are worried about. Revenue uncertainty, uh, inflation and cost, unfunded mandates, and then, um, of course personnel cost and and things related to personnel cost. Um, some of the items that creep up into that agenda, what I'm going to talk about today. The first is this digital transformation. Uh, late last year, or I should say two years ago in 2023, there was some language snuck into one of the funding bills called the FDTA, Federal Data Transparency Act. Uh, again, it was supposed to be a a continuing resolution for budget funding. Um, sometimes they sneak some things in there. This was one of them. in there. It required any government that receives public funding, so if you issue debt and get debt funds, it requires you to go and um participate in this database of financial statement reporting. Uh very similar to what you have on public companies. A lot of people know Edgar, you can go up, if you're an SEC company, you can go in, look at their financial statement numbers, do a bunch of data crunching, etc. They put this into the bill and it required all governmental entities to do that as well. Currently, the legislation is being worked through um uh the various committees. The SEC is going to head this initiative. Um we don't have a good sense of what it's going to look like, but if it's the SEC and they have a tool to do this reporting already, we think it's going to look sound and act very similar to what public companies will do. Um speaking of unfunded mandates, it is one. So what that's going to require is every government to go through and now digitize their financial statements so that um it goes up into a nationwide database and folks particularly researchers can go in and do things analysis on tax burden um revenue per citizen things uh that that community has been itching to do for

years. But with these financial statements being PDFs on websites very hard to accumulate that data. So, um, we expect this to happen. Mid next year is when that, um, legislation will get passed in the rules and regulations. But what we're telling our clients now is to start thinking about, um, how you're going to digitize those financial statements and ultimately digitize uh, some of that data that citizens will be able to go in now and do some comparisons uh, across the country. This next slide, IRA tax credits. Again, uh this was thrown into the inflation reduction act uh that was passed a couple of years ago. Uh one of the interesting things about it is that it allowed governmental entities access to tax credits. Typically, it was reserved for for-profit companies. Um across the country, we start to see a lot of our clients talking about funding of certain projects and starting to access these credits. So when you take a look at the things like new building construction, uh fleet electrification, HVAC improvements, if those um items have a component of uh new energy or reduced energy, there are um a matching component to those dollars that you can now access um through the federal government. Uh again, this one's a little controversial. Uh it's been talked about on the federal level. Some folks have been trying to repeal it. Um and the latest um um uh OBB, the one big beautiful bill that was passed, there was some wind down of these credits, but for now they stand uh and they start to sunset uh effective 26 27. Uh but again, as our councils and finance folks are talking about how we fund projects uh for the next two years or so, this is definitely a means that we have seen folks start to to access. This next slide is um the Gazsby Governmental Accounting Standards Board,

the projects that they've issued. Uh the next four that come online during the upcoming years, um I'm going to talk about 101 on the next slide. 102, 103, and 104 are really um standards that try to uh elevate transparency and risk management. So 102 is a standard that goes through and requires every government to talk about concentrations and constraints i.e. if you have a uh significant amount of revenues coming from certain taxpayers, if you've got um workforce that are um governed by collective bargaining agreements, those are things that they're saying that um you know citizens and readers of the financial statement should be um uh should have clear access to. So, this standard requires you to disclose some of those items in the financial statements. Again, we've got until next year for that one kicks on. Uh, but again, it will be some discussion in the financial statements of what of those items uh the county has. And then, of course, if there are any triggering events, let's say you have a union, they went on strike. Uh, again, we always say this stuff would be in the paper, so it is accessible, but now it's required to be in your financial statements as well. um 103 and 104 shouldn't be a huge lift, but there are some changes in the geography of the financial statement. So, when we get to those, we'll do a little bit of a walk through. Uh but nothing major on the concern of um uh major changes coming down the pike. This next slide talks about Gazsby 101, which is compensated absences. Um again it is a play on transparency and that some governments across the country there was a loophole in standards that basically said that you only need to record a liability if a um a compensation arrangement is due and payable. Um so what that means that for people who have get PTO and uh annual leave if it was in your collective bargain agreement you got 40 hours per year. U most of our governmental clients

would acrue that 40 hours per year saying hey we owe it to you. you might not have taken the time or leave yet um but we're going to acrew it as a liability so that it's on the financial statements. Uh there were a number of governments who basically went through and said well it's not due and payable today so we're not going to record that liability. So there was a a huge issue in comparability across governments and that some would record that liability and some would not. This standard just basically comes on and says everyone has to do it now. um not a huge impact to the county as you guys were already doing it in your financial statements, but as you start to take a look at other financial statements across the country, you will see a huge amount being acred this year. Um I know in the Commonwealth and the state level, uh big numbers, particularly when you start to talk about sick leave, which was the one that was most underlooked. We booked the vacation, we didn't put sick leave balances. Um so you will see larger numbers in financial statements across the country. No change in policy, no change in any agreements. Now, just some transparency in the amount that are owed to employees based off of those agreements. All right, so the next couple slides I'll go through here quick because these are your standard audit communications and um of course uh if you have questions um we are engaged to do an audit of the financial statements. However, the financial statements are not mine. uh management of the county goes through, finance goes through um preparing the transactions and the numbers in those financial statements. We provide them some assistance, but those are the county's numbers. Uh there are a component of financial statement balances in there that come from what we call group audit. These are financial statements that are audited by other entities. Uh we've got the list there, but aging, mental health, drug and alcohol, community college, uh human services, uh those are broken out in the financial statements. Uh so you have a clear guide of who did the audit work for these particular entities. Uh we ultimately issued an unmodified or clean

opinion. It is the highest level of assurance that we can give you. It is basically the gold standard in auditing. Basically says the financial statements are free from material error. This next slide just goes through our high level risk assessment. Every good audit starts off with one. This is where we spend the bulk of our time from a financial statement perspective. Um risk related to management override of controls, revenue recognition, investment valuation, uh and li valuation of the liabilities on the financial statements. All right, these next couple slides are the meat and potatoes of what I've got to tell you here today. Um, and always say that the good thing is kind of we we came, we conquered, we audited, you got the clean opinion. Um, there were no significant changes in the financial statements. I talked about the Gazsby 101, which is an industrywide change, but no change in in numbers. Uh, we always like to highlight what we call significant estimates. These are numbers that are a little more difficult to audit. I always say cash in the bank. You can look at a bank statement. You can talk to the bank and get that exact number. when it comes to uh an estimate like a pension liability or OPED liability, there are assumptions, there are mortality trends, there are discount rates on investments. So it takes a little more nuance to audit these balances. With that being said, they are consistent to what we see across the country. Uh so nothing that I have to bring to your attention there. There were no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, i.e. findings, internal control items, things that we would have to bring to governance attention from a finding perspective. Uh this next slide again just talks high level about some of the significant changes in the financial statements. Uh there are things that jump out to me and my team as we go through the audit. Um so again, increased grant funding related to the Bin grant. Um the utilization of the ARPA funds and the spendown of those funds. uh an increase in the opioid funds received from the uh

legal uh the lawsuits uh on the commonwealth level. Uh and then of course from a debt standpoint, we did issue about $11 million in tax anticipation notes which were paid um pretty quickly there. Also, you do see that churn uh in an issuance of $1 million and then a repayment of $1 million. Um sometimes we get the question about funded ratios on pensions. Are we in line with what we see across the country? Uh the pension plan is funded about 77%. Uh on average across the country it is about 78 to 80% is what we typically see. So right in line with uh funding requirements that or funding levels that we see across the country there. Uh these next couple of slides just go through and highlight numbers. Again uh the pension and OPE liability big numbers a lot of inputs and assumptions that go into them. This slide just talks a little bit about the change or what would happen if we did not achieve our discount rate in relation to those in uh to those liabilities. So the current amount is what's booked on the financial statements. Again, if we do not hit our discount rate or our investment return rate by 1% the number increases that way. Same thing if we uh come in over our discount rate uh the liability obviously goes down. Uh but again, it's there to highlight the um variation that is uh with those balances based off of the investment portfolio returns. Uh this last slide, I think again we get these comments from the public. What is going on on the debt side? So under long-term liabilities, uh again uh overall we had a a decrease of about $33 million. Uh the main increase there being from the pension liability which is really due to the investment portfolio position. Uh those investment balances go up, the liability goes down. Uh so again great market economy, investment economy definitely helps the

uh portfolio. Um I talked a little bit about the anticipation notes. So no huge change there. And then of course uh scheduled debt service. Those are the debt payments that we the countyy's required to make. Uh we made those. Uh so you see a decrease of about $20 million there. I think the last thing again that that we get a lot of questions about and I wanted to hit on is fund balance. Um there's always a question of what is the the right amount. Um it is open to interpretation. So one of the things I always like to point to is the uh GFO which is the government finance officers association. Um they put out a bunch of trends and best practices. Uh historically they like to say you don't like to be anywhere less than two months of expenses sitting in fund balance. So I always equate that to what I was told growing up is you keep two months of expenditures on hand just in case something happens. So their recommendation is not to go less than two months. Um and then on average we roughly see about three months in that reserve. Um so the county is right on that line. You guys are a little bit less than the three-mon number. Um so about 2.8 eight uh if you're looking for for months. So, uh that is right in line with where the GFOA likes you to be. Um again, it's open to interpretation of how less or more you should have. Um but from an audit standpoint, that is the sweet spot that we like to see. Uh it gives you some room for flexibility and if unforeseen circumstances presents itself, gives you some leverage uh both on the expense side and and the revenue side. Um, with that again, uh, thank you guys for the time. Thank finance for, uh, entertaining us as we get through this audit. And I will turn it over for questions or commentary.

All right. Thank you very much. Uh, any questions by council members, Mr.

Yeah, thanks. U, thank you for a great job done this year. I know it's your first year uh, for a three-year contract, two more years. Um, fingers crossed. Thank you for uh complying with the June 30th deadline as that truly is you you know it's not negotiable and it's part of the law. It's part of our charter. We have to comply with that. So, thank you for that. Um overall you you don't like I think it was a great report uh great report card on the county. Uh there's no serious concerns with the finances here. No, no material deficiencies. Uh I think that's a great report. And uh I'll just briefly comment on the pension liability. Uh from 2023 to 2024 the liability went down from 106 million to 95 million uh about $1 million and that's a great number and that's due as you indicated to a great investment performance. So if there was any questioning out there uh the pension fund is doing great and the liability number came down significantly. Uh but that's all. You don't have any other major concerns or anything like that, do you?

Nope. Nothing from our end. So yeah, thank thank you Remy. Any other questions by council members?

I don't have any questions. I just uh want to uh thank Remy. Uh very uh it was very uh good working with you. Uh it's a new year, right? So we we had a get to know each other and I think we did. Uh, and I I want to thank you and your staff uh for the work that you did. I also want to acknowledge uh Mary Roselle uh and uh Kate uh Holland. Uh we have the A team right there. Uh and uh they I know uh because their office is right next to mine. Uh I I would overhear the conversations that they had with Remy and uh I can tell you I'd walk into the room and I'd back out. Uh uh but seriously uh I know that they did a lot of work and without them uh we wouldn't be in the position that we're in. So I want to I want to acknowledge them and thank them uh for all the work that they did.

Good car. Thank you very much. Any other questions? All right. Thank you. We appreciate it.

All right. Finally, we have uh budget reports for June of 2025. Okay. So, I get to follow Remy, so that that's a tough act. But um so, uh our budget reports are included in your packet for the month of June. The first report is the revenue report. Our revenue earned is at 77% of budget or 129,103. Our current year tax collections at the end of June are at at 112 million which represents 92% of the current year tax revenue budget. Our expenses are at 58,140 um which is 38% of our budget. Next, you have the listing of the budget transferred followed by your accounts payable detail. And then finally, your treasurer's report, which at the end of June shows a cash balance of 190,23,000. At the end, uh the cash balance at the end of May was 22,269. The interest that's earned for the month of June was 295,615. Of that, ARPA accounts for 132,608. So far, our year-to- date interest that we've earned is 2 million 2,72,000 to be exact. Our ARPA cash balance is at 37,240 and we've earned ARPA interest year to date of 1,62,000 and since inception almost 9 million, 8.98 million. So, does anyone have any questions?

Sorry, any questions for Miss Roselle?

I I'd just like to point out one thing. Um and it's more of a statement for Remy who took seat. Um there's been some dialogue or discussions in recent months uh regarding the so-called surplus the county carries in the budget 26 I think this year it's 27 million I remember reading. Um and as CLLO CLA uh Representative Remy here uh very well stated, this is very standard across the country because budgets should have at least two months two two to three months of expenses on hand just like you would run your household. So it's it's it's it's wise what we're doing. It's not a problem and it's not an issue as some people have said that we should uh use that money up and and and and not keep it in reserves. But I'd like to point out that CLA agrees with it, right? The auditing firm and actually recommends it. So I'd just like to state state that for the record.

And as we've said, it's not cash. It's not money that we're sitting here holding. It's equity. It's there's a big difference, obligations and whatnot, right? Yeah. Okay. Thank you for that.

Anybody else? All right. Thank you very much. All right. Uh I believe that's it. Uh before we move into public comment, I just wanted to make one quick comment um regarding uh the uh reports that have been going on regarding Rock and the River. There was um something written in a recent article. I'm not sure if it was Citizens Voice Times Leader or both, saying that the the county did pay for um the services of the band that was uh that was cancelled, quote unquote. Um that I just want to correct, it was not the county taxpayers that paid for the bill. Rock and the River is funded through philanthropical efforts. Um so all of those uh acts are are funded not through taxpayer dollars. Um so so the county you know who rock in the river is responsible for the payment of uh those acts not county taxpayers.

Yes. Just wanted to just wanted to make sure that was clarified. Um other than that are there any public comments? I have uh two comments.

Sure. One is uh I was away but I was keeping uh a breast of what was going on in the county and uh big shout out to uh our 911 and our EMA uh during the flash floods. Uh they worked tireously and uh I really want to applaud uh their efforts. Uh the second thing is I I want to acknowledge uh Kathy Hilchshire, uh Mary Rosselle, um Harry Sche, uh Megan Stone, and Paulatic. Uh we uh had a wonderful morning together. We volunteered at the Weineberg Food Bank. We were uh with uh I think three other groups uh Penske, uh Starbucks, uh and just so happens the uh rail riders, the Yankees were there. I didn't plan it that way, but uh yeah, but I want to say uh we uh boxed up uh 68 small boxes, 120 bigger boxes uh of food uh that goes out to our elderly population, which aging actually contributes the money uh monies to. We contribute the monies to. So, we were able to see what actually goes in uh to those uh boxes. Uh and we packed over 10,000 pounds worth of food. uh uh Debbie who uh was there uh overseeing our work, talked about how uh her her mother uh and her parents taught them uh to volunteer and that it builds character. And uh I want to say it was one of the

best experiences that I had. and anybody who can uh spend time uh volunteering. They have an amazing operation. Uh and uh we're going to do it on a regular basis uh as a county uh and uh when we schedule it, I'll invite county council members uh to do it as well. Uh it was just an extraordinary experience and I want to thank uh all of uh the administration members that came with me today. Thank you very much, manager Cro County. Anybody else for public comment? Is there a motion to adjurnn? All in favor? I

opposed. Meetings adjourned. Thank you very much.