126026442_web1_Wilkes-University

Wilkes University launching substance use disorder certificate program

California imposes curfew to curb skyrocketing COVID cases

WILKES-BARRE &mdash; No sooner than city council Thursday night voted down Mayor George Brown&rsquo;s proposed $53.2 million balanced budget for next year did Department of Public Works employees begin asking about their jobs as the prospect of layoffs loomed.
				The vote was 3-2 against the<a href="https://www.wilkes-barre.city/sites/g/files/vyhlif4086/f/uploads/proposed_2021_budget.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> budget </a>that would have been balanced by doubling the annual sewer and recycling fees to $100 to generate $2 million in revenues.
				Council Vice Chairman Tony Brooks and council members John Marconi and Beth Gilbert McBride telegraphed the budget&rsquo;s defeat when they opposed the fee increases that were listed as separate ordinances on the agenda.
				The trio&rsquo;s &ldquo;No&rdquo; votes outnumbered the &ldquo;Yes&rdquo; votes of council Chairman Bill Barrett and councilman Mike Belusko.
				More than one caller into the online meeting congratulated the three council members who opposed the budget. Still other callers asked who was going to plow the streets and pick up the garbage.
				&ldquo;Nobody has came down to us and talked to us and asked us what we need, how we&rsquo;re doing and what we actually do. Are you guys going to come down and talk to us and explain to our families why we can&rsquo;t put food on the table no more?&rdquo; said a caller who said he was speaking for DPW.
				Brooks, Marconi and McBride said they are still willing to compromise in order to pass a balanced budget by the end of the year.
				Marconi suggested the $900,000 in overtime in the budget was something the administration could look at.
				&ldquo;First and foremost my colleagues and I want to assure everyone we do not want any layoffs. We offered suggestions and met with the administration as recently as this past Tuesday and it appears that the administration is not willing to budge,&rdquo; Marconi said.
				McBride defended her taking $41,528 in salary and health insurance for her city council position after Bob Kadluboski asked her and other council members to cut their pay in half and give up benefits.
				Responding to a comment from caller Sam Troy about reported threats made to council members to either vote for the budget or face consequences, McBride said someone she presumed was DPW employee &ldquo;based on the language that he had used&rdquo; left her a voice mail after the mayor presented his budget last month.
				&rdquo;And he made a veiled threat. It wasn&rsquo;t clear if it was bodily harm or what it meant, but it is in the hands of the police department at this point,&rdquo; McBride said.
				Presented as an ordinance the budget required approval at two readings. But if it failed to advance at the first vote, Brown warned of layoffs and cuts in services, the last and least desirable of his options as a property tax hike was out of the question.
				A message left with Brown after the vote was not returned. He was at the council meeting, but McBride pointed out to the listeners that Brown and City Administrator Charlie McCormick left after the budget vote.
				Council met at City Hall, but the public was not permitted to attend in compliance with the restrictions in place on crowds as the number of positive cases of COVID-19 surged in Luzerne County. The combined work session and public meeting was streamed online on YouTube and the council took phone calls and presubmitted emails with public comments.
				Although the budget was a big loss for the mayor, council approved six Local Share Account grant applications for projects requesting funding from the state program that relies on revenues from the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino in neighboring Plains Township. Four of the LSA applications were reintroduced after council voted against them at the Nov. 5 meeting and two more were added:
				&#8226; $410,000 for the School and Homes in Education Luzerne County, or SHINE, program.
				&#8226; $700,000 for the new Luzerne County Transportation Authority facility on the former Murray Complex property along South Pennsylvania Avenue.
				&#8226; $532,660 for the city&rsquo;s Emergency Operations Center at Hollenback Park.
				&#8226; $689,527 for renovations to City Hall.
				&#8226; $25,000 for the Wilkes-Barre YMCA&rsquo;s Virtual Programming Enhancement program.
				&#8226; $375,000 for Sherman Street Properties LLC for storm water management improvements and rehabilitation of the former My Brother&rsquo;s Place property at 221 N. Sherman St.
				The mayor&rsquo;s proposal to improve the aggregated trust fund of the city&rsquo;s five pension plans also was approved. Under the management of Pension Funding Solutions LLC, the plan would pump $22 million into the fund through pooled investment with other municipalities.
				Brown said it would lower the city&rsquo;s Minimum Municipal Obligation payments into the fund by $1.3 million next and $1.1 million in each of the following years, as well as increase the funding ratio to 65 % from the current level of 53%. The Aggregated Trust Fund Board, that mayor sits on, endorsed the plan.

Wilkes-Barre City Council opposes Brown’s budget