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Berwick man to be charged with possession of weapons of mass destruction

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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A city resident Thursday night asked city council to request an independent investigation of Police Chief Marcella Lendacky after the union representing officers accused her of professional misconduct.</p><p>Matt Ford said he turned to council after Mayor Tony George refused to look into the allegations first raised in January and again in the 13-page letter the Police Benevolent Association sent to the mayor and council earlier this week.</p><p>Ford presented a non-binding resolution to council at its regularly scheduled meeting for an immediate vote.</p><p>&#8220;What it does, it just gets the process started and washes your hands,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You guys don&#8217;t have to worry about not having done anything about possible crimes being committed.&#8221;</p><p>George stood by Lendacky, the first woman to serve as chief of the Wilkes-Barre City Police Department.</p><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no need to negotiate,&#8221; the mayor said. &#8220;She&#8217;s doing a great job. The whole department is doing a great job,&#8221; the mayor said, while acknowledging some union members are upset because &#8220;they have to listen to her.&#8221;</p><p>Lendacky could not be reached for comment.</p><p>Union president Sgt. Phil Myers confirmed the letter was sent after the union voted Sunday to send it. &#8220;It was a letter that was an expressing our concerns in her ability as a leader,&#8221; Myers said.</p><p>He declined to provide a copy.</p><p>It&#8217;s the union&#8217;s hope that the mayor would sit down and hear its concerns, Myers said. But the response of the mayor, a former police chief, not wanting to meet is &#8220;disheartening,&#8221; Myers said.</p><p>Ford said the allegations that Lendacky altered police reports and misallocated police resources warranted an investigation by at least the state Attorney General&#8217;s Office or the FBI to avoid a conflict of interests by a local agency taking the case.</p><p>&#8220;City residents have an expectation of moral authority coming from the chief of police and it&#8217;s only reasonable that these allegations be properly investigated by a law enforcement officer,&#8221; Ford said.</p><p>He provided a written copy of the resolution to council. But council chairman Bill Barrett, a former police chief, asked, &#8220;Would you electronically send that to us for consideration?&#8221;</p><p>Carl Romanelli urged council to continue discussions about decriminalizing cannabis, saying it&#8217;s through the &#8220;heroic action of real people&#8221; such as the elected council members to make it happen.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s also a position echoed by (Gov. Tom Wolf) who would like to see this statewide and ultimately where we need the discussion to go and quickly,&#8221; Romanelli, a Green Party member said.</p><p>Council has passed an ordinance dealing with drug paraphernalia. The law gives police officers the discretion of filing a summary citation instead of a misdemeanor offense against an individual caught with paraphernalia such as pipes and hypodermic needles.</p><p>Another ordinance passed Thursday takes effect in 10 days and is expected to generate revenue for the city through the recovery of insurance costs for emergency responses such as fires and motor vehicle crashes.</p><p>PA Fire Recovery Service of Allentown will collect fees from insurance companies and take between 15 and 20 percent of the total, based on the number of attempts made.</p><p>Council also approved, on the first of two readings, an ordinance prohibiting smoking and the use of electronic cigarettes at the Intermodal Transportation Center.</p><p>In other business, it authorized the city to contract with Quad3 engineers and architect for design services to replace the exterior windows and damaged plaster around them at the First National Bank Building on Public Square. The city owns the property that a private developer wants to acquire for the headquarters of the high-tech firm, Digital Net Agency. Quad3 would be paid 9 percent of the construction costs to be covered by a Local Share Account grant awarded the city by the state from gambling revenues from the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino in Plains Township.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre City Council asked to OK independent investigation of alleged misconduct of police chief