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Christine M. Flowers: Finally some justice for maligned Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann

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Area church group gathers to make quilts for homeless shelters

<p>Luzerne County Council is set to hold a public hearing and vote Tuesday on Councilman Walter Griffith&#8217;s proposed ballot question allowing the legislative body to retain its own solicitor.</p><p>Griffith wants the county&#8217;s home rule charter to be amended by voters, arguing council&#8217;s reliance on the county law office creates an inherent conflict because the office falls under the supervision of the county manager, or executive branch.</p><p>County Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo has stressed she and her staff represent the county as a whole and issue opinions based on their interpretation of the law. These attorneys must follow rules of professional conduct if they are faced with a conflict in any matter, she added.</p><p>Centralization of the county legal department had been singled out as one of the major achievements of the voter-approved home rule structure that took effect in January 2012.</p><p>In their final report, home rule charter drafters said they identified a problem of numerous solicitors throughout county government representing individual row offices or department heads &#8212; not the county as a whole. This created &#8220;opportunity for intra-county litigation between departments&#8221; and solicitors receiving varying compensation &#8220;without regard to (the) actual amount of work required,&#8221; it said.</p><p>The drafters said the unified law department would represent all county officials and functions and &#8220;owe legal duties to (the) county and not to individual officers.&#8221; They predicted this would limit or eliminate &#8220;wasteful intra-county litigation,&#8221; increase legal expertise and base staffing on actual workloads, it said.</p><p>Two specific exceptions were carved out in the charter, but only for the elected controller and district attorney. It said they both have the power to obtain independent legal opinions and temporary special legal counsel &#8212; on a case-by-case basis within their budgets &#8212; if they become involved in a dispute with council, the county manager or any other county elected official, authority, board or commission.</p><p>Under the charter, the county law office/solicitor must &#8220;act at all times on behalf of Luzerne County as their client&#8221; and &#8220;shall owe the highest duties of loyalty, independent judgment, and professional responsibility to Luzerne County.&#8221;</p><p>The county manager appoints the chief solicitor, subject to council confirmation. The solicitor must be a full-time employee, serve at the pleasure of the county manager and &#8220;be responsible directly to the county manager,&#8221; the charter says.</p><p>Griffith&#8217;s proposed amendment, which he wants to appear on the April 28 primary election ballot, would add the following sentence:</p><p>&#8220;The elected officials of Luzerne County and the office of the legislative branch of government, Luzerne County Council, shall be authorized to obtain separate and independent legal advisors, attorneys or counsel.&#8221;</p><p>If approved by voters, he proposes council make its solicitor a part-time position with no county pension or health insurance benefits.</p><p>The solicitor&#8217;s compensation would be set by council. He suggests the pay does not exceed the salary of the council clerk, which is currently $42,447, and not be less than 10% of the compensation for the law division head/chief solicitor. The chief solicitor salary is now $94,553, which means the minimum compensation he proposes for a council solicitor is $9,455.</p><p>Griffith said funding for the addition could come from reducing the law office budget allocation.</p><p>Tuesday&#8217;s public hearing starts at 6 p.m. at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, followed by the voting meeting.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Luzerne County Courthouse </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/web1_TTL101719Luzerne-County-Courthouse1-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Luzerne County Courthouse </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jennifer Learn-Andes</p><p>jandes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Luzerne County Council slated to vote on Griffith’s council solicitor proposal