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Mission BBQ holds soft opening supporting USO; grand opening Monday

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All photos of PA heroes who died in Vietnam have been located

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The date has been confirmed for PFM Financial Advisors LLC to provide more detailed information to city council about the proposed sale of the sewer system, but not the location for the Dec. 17 presentation.</p><p>By early next week council chairman Mike Belusko should know if it will be at City Hall during the council&#8217;s scheduled work session or at a larger venue so more people can attend.</p><p>Belusko said he will be polling the other four council members by email over the weekend on the recommendation Mayor-elect George Brown made during council&#8217;s Thursday night meeting to change the time and place for the presentation.</p><p>&#8220;I want to ask them to respond back to me by Tuesday,&#8221; Belusko said Friday.</p><p>If council chooses to move the meeting it will have a week to find a place with more seating than its fourth-floor chambers.</p><p>&#8220;I was thinking that maybe just having a public meeting before our work session where (residents and council) can ask questions and then we move into our work session. That&#8217;s what I&#8217;m pondering,&#8221; Belusko said.</p><p>The public can&#8217;t ask questions during the Tuesday night work sessions when council does not vote on pending legislation. Comments and questions are allowed during council&#8217;s Thursday night public meetings. Both have 6 p.m. scheduled starts.</p><p>City Administrator Rick Gazenski pointed out it&#8217;s council&#8217;s call on which direction to go.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s up to council if they want to move this to another venue,&#8221; Gazenski said.</p><p>As Belusko is reaching out to council, so too will Brown in an effort to lobby for his recommendation.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to call them,&#8221; Brown said.</p><p>Making his pitch for a larger room for a bigger audience Brown told council Thursday, &#8220;We can have a couple hundred people there. Acranton art haund at that meeting PFM can present the proposals that we should be hearing on the 17th; but not just to us, but to (200 or 300) constituents that voted us into office.&#8221;</p><p>If his recommendation doesn&#8217;t get council&#8217;s backing, Brown promised to hold a public meeting with PFM after he takes office on Jan. 6.</p><p>Either way, he said, his main focus is to get as much information as possible to the public about the proposed sale, especially since PFM pointed out rates would rise once the public asset is acquired by a private utility company.</p><p>Council opposed any effort to fast track a sale while its proponent Mayor Tony George was still in office and agreed to include Brown and incoming councilman John Marconi in the decision-making process. George has supported the sale raised by PFM as solution to Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s financial problems, with an eye toward pouring some of the estimated $30 million proceeds into the underfunded pension plans and putting the system in the hands of an entity that could invest millions for capital improvements for the aged infrastructure.</p><p>Harrisburg-based PFM has been hired by the city with state grants to help it avoid financial collapse. For two years PFM has been doing the behind-the-scenes work for a proposed sale and last month provided council an update on the process.</p><p>Council asked the adviser to return on Dec. 17 with more specific information about rates and also tasked it with revisiting leasing the sewer lines to the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority as an alternative to a sale.</p><p>Belusko defended the cautious approach council was taking on the proposed sale as a deadline loomed for the Aggregated Pension Fund Board to make changes recommended by the city&#8217;s actuary.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s not our fault. Don&#8217;t put that on us,&#8221; Belusko said of the deadline.</p><p>Last last month the board decided to wait to see what happens with the proposed sale. The board held off on making recommended changes that would lead to a $2.8 million jump in the 2021 Minimum Municipal Obligation the city is required to contribute into the five plans.</p><p>The board has a Feb. 12 deadline for the changes to be submitted to the state or risk losing several million dollars in annual pension aid. Should the plans fall below a 50% funding ratio, the city risks the state declaring it financially distressed under Act 47.</p><p>The most recent <a href="https://www.paauditor.gov/Media/Default/Reports/MunCityofWilkesBarreAGG040919.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">compliance audit</a> from by the state Auditor General listed a 58.6% funding ratio as of Jan. 1, 2017, placing the city&#8217;s plans in moderately distressed status. The plans had assets of $79.8 million compared to $136.2 million in liabilities, the 2019 audit said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Belusko </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_Belusko_Mike_mug-cmyk-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Belusko </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL101819george-brown2.cmyk_.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Brown </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/web1_TTL101819george-brown2.cmyk_.jpg</photo1><caption1>Brown </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<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 to decide on location of proposed sewer system sale