Local bus companies operating on snow routes, flights cancelled

EDITORIAL CARTOON

First Posted: 2/11/2014 Luzerne County Council won&#8217;t be launching its home rule investigatory powers for the first time to examine the county Transportation Authority because the proposal did not receive a required seven of 11 votes Tuesday.
Council Chairman Rick Morelli proposed the investigation after a recent announcement the state is withholding $3.16 million in funding to the authority due to years of inflated senior citizen ridership counts. The authority provides public bus and van service.
Morelli said Tuesday the authority has failed to provide some requested information and wasn&#8217;t up front about an option to tap the authority&#8217;s reserve to help fund this year&#8217;s required county contribution.
But some citizens and council members questioned what the county would accomplish from an investigation and said the county should wait for the results of a state probe. Some also raised concerns about the time and expense of an investigation, though county Chief Solicitor C. David Pedri said his office could handle most or all of the work in-house.
Councilman Harry Haas said an investigation is &#8220;not going to bear much fruit&#8221; and described the proposal as &#8220;politically showy.&#8221;
Council members Linda McClosky Houck and Rick Williams said council members should determine what information they want and set a deadline for the authority to respond before resorting to an investigation.
Councilman Jim Bobeck said the county won&#8217;t receive a financial windfall. County Manager Robert Lawton said state transportation officials informed him the ridership problem won&#8217;t result in a county refund because the county&#8217;s contribution to the authority has been far below a 15-percent mandate to obtain state funding.
Bobeck said a county investigation could be a &#8220;waste of time&#8221; and possibly &#8220;hamper&#8221; the ongoing state probe.
Councilman Stephen A. Urban supported an investigation, saying the authority has ignored his repeated requests for documentation verifying the amount that must be paid by the county. He also said the state is not focusing on the county&#8217;s contribution as part of its investigation.
&#8220;I think we have to move beyond asking people nicely for the answers,&#8221; Urban said.
Morelli said an investigation would show the public the county is taking &#8220;ownership of a clear problem.&#8221;
&#8220;If we don&#8217;t do this tonight, it shows we&#8217;re really not the overseers the public expects us to be,&#8221; Morelli said.
Five council members supported an investigation: Urban, Morelli, Eileen Sorokas, Kathy Dobash and Edward Brominski. The opponents: Bobeck, Haas, Tim McGinley, Williams and McClosky Houck.
The vote also was tied for a motion to postpone a decision on investigating.
Councilman Stephen J. Urban was absent.
The authority operates independently, but council appoints the authority &#8217;s nine governing board members and provides a local match budgeted at $500,000 this year.
McClosky Houck had proposed the idea of using council&#8217;s investigatory powers to examine the authority in May, in part after Brominski publicly raised allegations about &#8220;ghost riders.&#8221; Council members did not act at that time. McClosky Houck said Tuesday her request was made before council was aware of the state investigation.

County Council will not probe LCTA