Letter to the Editor: Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders understands where America went wrong

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Drawings for Mackin, new high school withheld by W-B Area

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Even though it&#8217;s a done deal city council sought answers about the pay and duties of attorney Pete Moses, Mayor Tony George&#8217;s choice for assistant solicitor.As a formality, council will be asked to give its consent to Moses&#8217; appointment to the $52,500 a year job at Thursday night&#8217;s regularly scheduled meeting. Not having the information before the pending vote council members at Tuesday night&#8217;s work session pressed city attorney Tim Henry for information on Moses&#8217; qualifications, hours and availability.Moses arrived after the 25-minute work session. George did not attend the meeting because he was at another meeting, according to city administrator Greg Barrouk.&#8220;This is my personal opinion. It&#8217;s no reflection on the candidate or the person being hired although there appears to be a conflict that has arisen that his current legal practice is heavily involved in criminal defense,&#8221; said chairman Bill Barrett. He asked if Moses has experience in cases that would be handled by the city&#8217;s law office.Henry vouched for Moses, saying he has been practicing law for more than a decade in a variety of areas, including municipal government.&#8220;Mr. Moses has indicated that now that he&#8217;s has been appointed as the assistant city solicitor he will no longer be handling any criminal work that originates in Wilkes-Barre,&#8221; Henry said.His salary will be $2,000 less than the budgeted amount, but he will receive benefits pushing the total compensation to approximately $65,000, according to Barrouk.Henry explained the full-time position had no set hours . &#8220;But full time for Pete&#8217;s purpose would mean reasonably available during business hours for advice and consultation,&#8221; Henry said.After the work session Barrett said the questions he had about the appointment were answered. He suggested changing the language in the city charter to give council the authority to vote on mayor&#8217;s appointments.Henry said any change to the charter would have to done by referendum. But for now case law is in favor of the mayor, Henry said.&#8220;The courts have held that the executive has the power to appoint,&#8221; he said, adding council&#8217;s non consent &#8220;wouldn&#8217;t stop the appointment.&#8221;Council will have approval power over several other matters on the agenda for Thursday&#8217;s meeting:&#8226; Amending the city ordinance on commercial recycling to close a loophole and cover &#8220;all residential units&#8221; including those mixed-use commercial and residential buildings&#8226; Awarding a $96,497 contract to Safety National Casualty Corp. for excess coverage of workers&#8217; compensation insurance coverage&#8226; Selling city property at the rear Sheridan Street to Timothy Pearce of 244 Sheridan St. at the fair market value to be determined by the city assessor.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Jerry Lynottjlynott@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</shirttailMeta></div>

Assistant city solicitor’s duties questioned by council