Luzerne County Council approves lawsuit settlements, appoints insurance broker

WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County Council on Tuesday approved the settlement of two pending lawsuits involving former inmates at the county correctional facility.

Council also hired an insurance broker and declined to vote on a requested tax break for a proposed housing development in Hazleton.

Settlements

The first settlement, for $45,330, concerned a suit brought by former county jail inmate Joshua S. Miller in federal court. Miller alleged in the suit that jail employees violated his constitutional rights while he was an inmate at the county jail in April 2016.

Councilmen Brian Thornton and Kevin Lescavage voted no on the Miller settlement. Councilwoman Joanna Bryn Smith abstained because she was assigned to the case when she worked as a conflict counsel attorney for the county.

Council Chairman John Lombardo voted yes, as did council members Chris Perry, Lee Ann McDermott, Harry Haas, Gregory Wolovich Jr., Brittany Stephenson and Jimmy Sabatino. Councilwoman Patty Krushnowski was absent.

The other settlement, for $300,000, concerned the January 2023 death by suicide of county jail inmate Kristen LaSalle, who was being held on a parole violation.

LaSalle’s estate had threatened to file a suit against the county in federal court, according to the resolution council approved to end the pending litigation.

The county and jail healthcare provider Wellpath LLC will each pay $150,000 toward the settlement, the resolution states.

Insurance broker

Council voted to hire Risk Strategies Company as the county’s insurance broker, at $55,000 per year for 2025 and 2026, with an optional renewal for 2027.

Risk Strategies Company was formerly known as Joyce Insurance Group, based in Pittston.

The other firm to receive a motion for approval Tuesday was Brown & Brown Insurance Services Inc., based in Bethlehem. That firm submitted a proposal for $51,000 per year, the agenda states.

Haas proposed a motion to hire Brown & Brown, but it died for lack of a second. Council then approved Risk Strategies Company. Haas voted no and McDermott abstained, citing a personal relationship.

Tax break

For the second straight meeting, council removed from its agenda a proposed vote on a request for a 10-year tax abatement from Allen Ridge Associates LLC, which plans to develop a mixed-use affordable housing complex known as Allen Ridge Community on a 90-acre site near Lehigh Valley Hospital in Hazleton.

Council members want to allow the developer to submit its revised proposal to the Hazleton Area School Board before council votes on it, Lombardo said. The county is usually the last taxing body to consider tax abatement requests, he said.

The school board rejected the requested tax abatement earlier this year, while Hazleton City Council approved it.

___

(c)2024 The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

Visit The Citizens' Voice (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) at citizensvoice.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.