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Two pets perish in Miller Street fire in Wilkes-Barre that displaced seven

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The Commonwealth Medical College expands Wilkes-Barre presence

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Ways to save money was a major focus at Thursday&#8217;s city council meeting, from a move to bid out bank accounts to proposals to switch garbage disposal sites and slash administrative jobs.</p><p>Council pulled a resolution from Mayor Tony George to switch checking accounts from Citizens Bank to First National Community Bank off the agenda and instead will request proposals to handle the city&#8217;s banking business. Several residents who spoke during public comment commended council for doing so.</p><p>Also during public comment, John Hambrose, communications manager for Waste Management at Alliance Landfill in Taylor, asked for council&#8217;s help in having the city&#8217;s waste disposal work placed out for public bid &#8212; something he said he and his colleagues have been discussing with the prior administration for more than two years.</p><p>Hambrose said the city&#8217;s contract with Keystone Landfill in Dunmore expired about four years ago, and switching to Alliance, which is 5 miles closer than Keystone, would have saved the city at least $95,000 in per-ton disposal charges in 2014; reduced fuel and maintenance costs by more than $31,000 in 2014; and reduced personnel time.</p><p>Resident Robert Fountain said he came up with &#8220;some ideas and suggestions for the city to save some money.&#8221;</p><p>The suggestions included combining related offices, such as the offices of Finance and Controller; converting from group coverage to individual Medicare coverage for city retirees to save $457,000; making city employees pay 5 or 10 percent toward health insurance to save $300,000 to $650,000; eliminating the Help Line coordinator and hiring an answering service; eliminating seven administrative positions and having other employees take over those duties; eliminating the city Assessor&#8217;s Office and using the Luzerne County Assessment Office; and using college interns to replace the deputy controller, IT director and bio-terrorism coordinator and perform work for various city departments.</p><p>In other business, council approved:</p><p>&#8226; Allocating $37,500 for the city&#8217;s Fiscal, Operational and Mission Management Five-Year Plan project.</p><p>&#8226; Mayor Tony George&#8217;s recommended appointments to the Health Board &#8212; Dr. Robert Czwalina, nurse Margaret Lovecchio and pharmacist Elliot Silkowski.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Steve Mocarsky</p><p>smocarsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre council to request bank account proposals, asked to consider switching landfills