Luzerne County Council selects insurance broker

A Luzerne County Council majority voted Tuesday to retain Risk Strategies Company as the county’s new insurance broker.

The annual fee is $55,000 for Risk Strategies, which lists Joseph Joyce Jr. and William Joyce Sr. as the managing directors and has six Pennsylvania offices, including ones in Pittston and Nanticoke.

Bethlehem-based Brown & Brown Insurance Services Inc., the other option, submitted a proposal charging $51,000.

Councilman Harry Haas made a motion to retain Brown & Brown, but nobody provided the required second to bring that proposal to a vote.

Eight council members then went on to approve the hiring of Risk Strategies: Joanna Bryn Smith, Kevin Lescavage, Chairman John Lombardo, Chris Perry, Jimmy Sabatino, Brittany Stephenson, Vice Chairman Brian Thornton and Gregory S. Wolovich Jr.

Councilwoman LeeAnn McDermott abstained from that vote, citing a personal relationship. Councilwoman Patty Krushnowski was absent.

County council heard presentations from both prospective insurance brokers last month.

The broker must shop around for the best prices and administer all county insurance policies, including liability, cyber security, auto and property coverage, according to the administration.

The county’s last search was in 2021, when council voted 6-5 to select USI Insurance Services for $60,000 annually.

In the current search, four brokers submitted proposals in response to the county’s public request. One was not interviewed due to its high costs. Three of four screening committee members ranked Brown & Brown as their top choice, while Risk Strategies was recommended by the fourth committee member, the agenda said.

“The county has worked with both brokers in the past. Both firms provided appropriate service,” the agenda said.

Housing tax break

Council removed a real estate tax break request from Tuesday’s voting agenda.

Council Chairman John Lombardo said he and several other council colleagues want to know if Allen Ridge Associates LLC will convince the Hazleton Area School Board to reconsider and support the project. The county is usually the last taxing body to make determinations on tax breaks, he said.

Allen Ridge is seeking the break for a proposed residential development on a 90-acre site across from the Lehigh Valley Hospital in Hazleton.

Litigation settlements

A council majority also approved two proposed litigation settlements stemming from the county prison.

The first settlement of $45,330 will close out a federal suit Joshua S. Miller filed against the county in April 2016 alleging his constitutional rights were violated by county prison employees during his incarceration, the agenda said.

The second settlement of $300,000 — half paid by the county and the other half paid by prison inmate medical services provider WellPath LLC — will resolve litigation Kristen LaSalle’s estate has threatened to file in federal court related to her January 2023 suicide, it said.

Election Inquiry

Haas sought council work session discussion about activating a council election inquiry committee Tuesday but later withdrew that request based on feedback.

Thornton said the Nov. 5 general election process is not over yet because the county election board is still reviewing ballots and tallying votes during its post-election adjudication. He said he would be more open to discussion at the next work session later this month.

Haas said Thornton “makes a lot of sense” and removed his original motion.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo also invited Haas to speak with her about a post-election assessment that will be completed by the county law office. Crocamo said she welcomes input from Haas on the parameters of that analysis.

“I believe all of us should work together. I will make myself available so we can talk this through,” Crocamo said.

The law office’s “post-election after action report” will evaluate county procedures and provide “actionable recommendations for improvement,” she had said. It will include a thorough assessment of polling place operations, mail ballot processing and vote tabulation methods and input from election officials, poll workers and community members regarding their experiences and observations during the election, she said.

Several issues surfaced in this election. The Laflin polling place had to remain open an extra 90 minutes because the judge of elections was not present to open the polling place on time, officials said.

There also were complaints about the pace of processing voter registration and mail ballot applications, although the county said it met all statutory deadlines.

Many were upset information on the status of their mail ballot was not reflected in the online ballot tracker. The election bureau ended up manually entering the data the day before the election.

Approximately 7,000 mail ballots in the 119th Legislative District had to be reissued because incumbent state Rep. Alec Ryncavage’s name was misspelled. The vendor accepted responsibility for that error. There also was an issue with original ballots that were supposed to stay segregated. Election Day mail ballot processing was halted, so the original ballots were extracted and not tallied in the unofficial results.

Crocamo also had announced formation of an “Election Legislation Task Force” to seek state election code updates that address issues encountered in the election, including those surrounding mail ballot drop boxes, deadlines for voter registration and mail ballot applications and on-demand mail ballot voting.

Council had discussed but did not form an election inquiry committee after the November 2022 general election known for a voting machine paper shortage.

A council election inquiry committee was convened in 2020 largely due to the discovery that a temporary seasonal worker had discarded nine overseas military ballots.