Luzerne County Courthouse Luzerne County will hold a live and online auction of unused vehicles and road and bridge equipment on Aug. 3, according to an online posting.
Conducted by John Regan Auctioneer, the auction starts at 11 a.m. on the grounds of the Wyoming Valley Levee maintenance building on Camryn Way near the Forty Fort Soccer Club fields and county-owned Wyoming Valley Airport. The auction listing uses an address of 1189 Wyoming Ave., Forty Fort.
A complete list of the auction items, photographs and information on the online bidding option are posted at www.johnreganauctions.com .
Questions should be directed to county Purchasing Director Mary Ann Amesbury at 570-820-6337, the posting says.
The county’s last auction of county vehicle and equipment was in May 2023. The sales are held periodically to generate revenue for the county and provide interested citizens with access to equipment no longer needed by county departments, officials have said.
Study commission
The county’s Government Study Commission will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday (July 30) at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, with remote attendance instructions posted under council’s online public meetings link at luzernecounty.org .
Commission members had said this meeting will focus on the section of the county home rule charter covering the district attorney’s office.
Authorized by county April 23 primary election voters, the seven-citizen commission will have nine months to report findings and recommendations and another nine months if it is opting to prepare and submit changes to the charter that took effect in 2012. An extra two months is allowable if the commission is recommending electing council by district instead of at large.
Voters must ultimately approve any commission recommendation for it to take effect.
Council committees
Council’s Strategic Initiatives Committee will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday (July 31) at the courthouse.
Council’s Budget, Finance and Audit Committee is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. Thursday (Aug. 1) at the courthouse.
Instructions to attend both committee meetings remotely will be posted under council’s online meetings link at luzernecounty.org .
Palmer statue
During last week’s council work session, several members spoke in favor of the administration’s request to restore the statue of Ellen Webster Palmer so it can be returned to the county courthouse lawn.
Council’s Act 13 committee already approved the use of $48,610 in county natural-gas recreation funding for the restoration.
The 1,200-pound marble statue, which depicts Palmer flanked by a breaker boy and young miner, has significant damage caused by weather, acid rain exposure, vandalism and other factors, officials said. It was moved off site around 2007. Palmer established the Boys’ Industrial Association in Wilkes-Barre in the 1890s to educate and provide social activities for working children. She spent evenings teaching boys after they labored at coal mines during the day.
Councilman Harry Haas thanked the committee and said he is aware of several residents passionate about the project.
Councilman Gregory S. Wolovich Jr. said many of his ancestors worked in coal mines, and historical preservation is very important to him.
Council is set to vote on the project Aug. 13.
Controller feedback
County Controller Walter Griffith agreed with council members during last week’s council work session when they praised positive findings in the 2023 audit presentation, saying it is a “testament to the great work we’re doing.”
Fiscal improvements stem largely from “a lot of collaboration and cooperation that goes on in this county that didn’t happen before,” he added.
Griffith said some people have asked what’s happened to him because he is not blasting council members at the podium.
His response:
“This is what happened to Walter — cooperation and collaboration. I don’t have to stand here and do that. I can if I don’t get the cooperation and we don’t work together. We can do that, and we can go back to that day. But this county is going in a different direction, and it’s good for everybody — including me. So to the people who make the comment that we need to get that watchdog back who constantly stands at this podium and screams and carries on to council about things they’re not doing right — I don’t want to see that guy. I don’t want to be that guy. I like this guy, and I like working with council.”
He asked council to “keep that in mind as we move forward.”
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