`something For Everybawdy' Is Daring, Funny

2 Robbery Suspects Waive Hearing

By JOE HEALEY; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Friday, January 10, 1997 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 3A 





WILKES-BARRE -- Is it legal for City Council members to serve on municipal
boards and authorities? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 That is what a four-member committee will find out because of a resolution
passed by City Council at a regular meeting Thursday night. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The resolution stated that city Attorney Marisue Elias-Welch, Mayor Thomas
McGroarty and council members Thomas Leighton and Michael McGinley will
investigate the legality of council members sitting on boards and authorities. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 These include the Wilkes-Barre Municipal Authority, the city Pension Board,
the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority and the city Parking Authority. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The board's findings will determine if five of the seven members of council
will have to give up seats on various authorities and boards. Leighton and
McGinley are the only two council members who do not sit on boards or
authorities. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 According to the Third Class City Code, a member of a municipal board or
authority can not serve on council. But Wilkes-Barre doesn't operate by the
Third Class City Code, it operates by a Home Rule Charter, which doesn't
specify if council members can sit on boards or authorities. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I think this issue hasn't been visited by us in four years," said Elias-
Welch. "There may have been some changes in state law we're not aware of. We
have to look at the current status of the laws." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The four-member committee will report back to council with their findings. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We just want to find out what council members can and can't do," McGroarty
said. "Whatever the verdict is, we're going to do it across the board." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In other business, council: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Passed an ordinance allowing police to use the boot, a device which
immobilizes a vehicle, in enforcing repeat unsettled traffic citations or
parking violations. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The boot will be used if a person has five or more unsettled parking
violation notices, three or more unsettled parking citations or more than one
arrest warrant as a result of parking violations pending against the owner of
the vehicle. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

W-b Eyes Officials' Dual Roles A Four-member Committee Will Report To City Council With Its Findings