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Kennedy Elementary selects super student for November

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After hectic 2015, District Judge Alexandra Kokura Kravitz ready to tackle busy 2016

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Tony&#8217;s Team was announced Thursday &#8212; with few surprises.</p><p>Mayor Tony George, now in charge of the city of Wilkes-Barre, exercised his political right to surround himself with team members with whom he feels comfortable and with whom he can work for the betterment of the city and its residents.</p><p>When he was sworn in Monday, Tony told us he had been a cop &#8212; a beat cop. He said his top priority is and always will be law and order. That issue &#8212; preventing crime and making the city safer &#8212; is the key to everything else good for the city, he said.</p><p>Before Tony got into the specifics of his new team, he announced the newest member of his family &#8212; his granddaughter, Emily, the first child born to his daughter, Amy. Emily was born on Jan. 5, making her, perhaps, the city&#8217;s newest resident.</p><p>Tony was all smiles as he talked about Emily.</p><p>And then other names started flowing:</p><p>&#8226; Greg Barrouk, staying as city administrator</p><p>&#8226; Tim Henry, staying as city attorney and also becoming Barrouk&#8217;s assistant administrator</p><p>&#8226; Peter Moses coming in as assistant city attorney. A defense attorney, Moses will represent the city and its police department.</p><p>&#8226; Ellen Meehan will stay as human resources director.</p><p>&#8226; Tyler Ryan, assistant to the mayor.</p><p>&#8226; Hank Radulski, staying as health services director.</p><p>&#8226; Jay Delaney remains as fire chief; Alan Klapat stays as assistant fire chief.</p><p>&#8226; Police Chief Robert Hughes will retire in March when his sick time is used up.</p><p>&#8226; Lt. Marcella Lendacky becomes acting police chief and will be sworn in as chief when Hughes&#8217; retirement is effective.</p><p>Lendacky will be the city&#8217;s first female police chief. She addressed the media and made it clear she isn&#8217;t going to discuss a recently circulated letter allegedly written by members of the city police department and questioning Lendacky&#8217;s ability to run the department.</p><p>Tony called the letter &#8220;cowardly&#8221; because it was sent anonymously.</p><p>Lendacky, who celebrated her 55th birthday Thursday, called the letter &#8220;nonsense&#8221; and said she was not going to discuss it.</p><p>&#8220;I know there will be some resistance,&#8221; Lendacky said of her appointment. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to do my job and I will do it well. I&#8217;m not going anywhere.&#8221;</p><p>Good for her. A police chief needs to show leadership. Lendacky did that Thursday. She made it clear she is in charge and everybody better get used to it. She said she will do her job and, I&#8217;m sure, she will expect nothing less from her officers.</p><p>The same can be said for Tony. This is his city now and he&#8217;s the one charged with leading it to better days. Tony was elected largely because of his law and order campaign. When he was sworn in Monday, he told us the city is in crisis and needs a cop.</p><p>During this adjustment period, we need to give Tony time to prove his worth. He&#8217;s chosen his team and now it&#8217;s time to play ball. He must show us how he will do all he promised during the campaign.</p><p>As always with the city, rumors and reports continue to circulate. The latest is that Tony will wait a couple months before bringing in friends. Specifically being mentioned are former mayor Tom McGroarty, who currently works for the state, and his brother, Jerry, former city public works director. Also making the rounds is a rumor that former city administrator, Jim Hayward, will soon work at City Hall. Hayward served in the McGroarty administration.</p><p>I asked Tony if these rumors/reports are true. He said they are not.</p><p>&#8220;None of them are here,&#8221; he responded. &#8220;I have no intentions of bringing them back.&#8221;</p><p>There you go &#8212; Tony on the record stating the rumors are just that &#8212; rumors.</p><p>Some people might not believe him. That&#8217;s their prerogative. Time will tell.</p><p>Long before the primary, I talked to a prominent city businessperson about the mayor&#8217;s race. This person told me Tony was the best person for the job &#8212; that, as a former police chief, he&#8217;s exactly what the city needs.</p><p>The businessperson was right &#8212; Tony won on his law and order stance.</p><p>But the businessperson also told me Tony is a nice guy, a family man who holds his wife&#8217;s hand when he walks with her. The businessperson was impressed by what he said is Tony&#8217;s genuineness &#8212; his nice guy persona.</p><p>The new mayor and fifth-time grandfather looked a little nervous at the podium Thursday. But he also appeared to be genuine.</p><p>He deserves a chance to prove he&#8217;s a man of his word.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Bill O&#8217;Boyle </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_Oboyle_Bill-2-1-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Bill O&#8217;Boyle </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_TTL010816TonysTeam-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George announces his senior staff at a news conference at City Hall Thursday morning. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_TTL010816TonysTeam-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tony George announces his senior staff at a news conference at City Hall Thursday morning. </caption1><photoCredit1>Clark Van Orden | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

‘Tony’s Team’ announced as new Wilkes-Barre mayor Tony George vows to move city forward