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Luzerne County Council members select chair and acting manager

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C. David Pedri named acting Luzerne County manager

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; City council members &#8212; including three new faces &#8212; were sworn into office during an organizational meeting Monday night.</p><p>The meeting, held in the lobby of the F.M. Kirby Center on Public Square, featured a packed house as members of city council swore their oaths.</p><p>The meeting included several new faces from November&#8217;s election.</p><p>Michael Belusko was accompanied by his triplet grandsons, Brody, Conor and Logan Richardson. Belusko, 54, a Democrat, won with 50 percent of the vote to win the nomination for District A.</p><p>Belusko said he looked forward to working together with his fellow council members, as well as new Mayor Tony George&#8217;s administration, to move the city forward.</p><p>Tony Brooks, a travel agent and former executive director of the Luzerne County Historical Society, captured the District B council seat as the Republican candidate. He was accompanied by his parents, Emily and Tony Novakowski, as he was sworn in.</p><p>Brooks, 50, acknowledged that the city came from a &#8220;great past,&#8221; but said council would help to move the city to a great future.</p><p>Beth Gilbert, 21, a senior at Wilkes University, won the Democratic nomination for District C. She was accompanied by her mother, Susan, and fianc&#233;, Kyle Kocher, as she was sworn in.</p><p>She called the experience &#8220;overwhelming,&#8221; but was excited to get to work.</p><p>&#8220;I have a great feeling about the group we have up here,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I think great things are going to happen.&#8221;</p><p>Darren Snyder, a Democrat, was also sworn in as the new city controller.</p><p>Outgoing councilman George Brown hoped that the new council &#8220;would work closely&#8221; with the new mayor, and advised the new council members to &#8220;make decisions that you know in your heart and mind are the right decisions for the people in the city of Wilkes-Barre.&#8221;</p><p>Outgoing councilwoman Lavelle thanked citizens for electing her, and had high hopes as the new council looks to the future.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m hoping that everyone can work together, that&#8217;s the most important thing,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Also at the meeting, council voted unanimously to appoint William Barrett as chairman and Mike Merritt as vice chairman.</p><p><strong>Getting to work</strong></p><p>After the meeting had adjourned, the new members of city council said they were ready to get to work.</p><p>Belusko said crime and blighted properties were two things he wanted to focus on.</p><p>Gilbert, who graduates in May and is the youngest on council, said that &#8220;a vast majority&#8221; of citizens have told her they want a fresh perspective in city government. Like Belusko, she hopes to address crime and blighted properties.</p><p>&#8220;If we can&#8217;t address those issues, then we&#8217;re not going to have a stable residency in the area or anything like that,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Brooks, however, is focusing on each neighborhood in the city and creating residency associations for each of them.</p><p>&#8220;Only one, the downtown, has a residency association now,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We just launched one in South Wilkes-Barre.&#8221;</p><p>Brooks explained that the associations would enable residents to get to know each other and serve as a &#8220;conduit to have communication&#8221; between the neighborhoods and city government.</p><p>Gathering as a community, he added, is another possibility.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s all kinds of projects that people can do when they work together,&#8221; Brooks said. &#8220;Anywhere from throwing a community block party to raising money for a local playground.&#8221;</p><p>He added that associations will be launching in Heights and Mayflower, and another for Rolling Mill Hill will be launched in the coming weeks.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Brooks </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Anthony-TP-Brooks_toned-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Brooks </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_belusko_toned-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Belusko </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_belusko_toned-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Belusko </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_gilbert_toned-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Gilbert </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_gilbert_toned-2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Gilbert </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>WIlkes-Barre legislators sworn to posts Monday</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Travis Kellar</p><p>tkellar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Travis Kellar at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre city council members sworn in Monday at F.M. Kirby Center