Pocono News Section

Home rule committee gets started

Home rule committee gets started - Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 5:37PM EST

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 @ 05:37pm EST

Last week the Luzerne County home rule study commission was approved in the primary election

The commission will tell people in Luzerne County whether or not their government needs an upgrade.

Now the members of that commission are hoping to hit the ground running.

They'll do that through a series of meetings some members want to keep open to the public.

The Luzerne County home rule study commission is made up of 11 different, independent people.

A lawyer, who's also the Kingston mayor and an auto repair man, who's also a taxpayer advocate are two members.

Both are ready to get started.

Home rule study commission member Walter Griffith says, "We want to just get the ball rolling and get everybody on board."

The commission will be certified by the county this Friday, then sworn in next week.

Then it will look at each department of county government and possibly recommend changes.

Home rule study commission James Haggerty says, "To study that government and to come up with ideas and recommendations is a serious task. But the people on the commission know that going in. They volunteered to do this."

Some changes could include adding more commissioners or cutting certain row officers.

That's something study commission member Walter Griffith says needs to be considered.

"There's a lot of issues that need to be addressed. We have row officers that quite honestly have been exposed for not being in the office," says Griffith.

The study commission will have up to nine months to write a charter.

It will replace state mandated laws and government standards.

The local community could have more of a say in how it's governed.

The public will then vote to accept or reject the proposed charter.

The home rule movement got to that point in 1973 and 2003, but was voted down.

This study commission will look closely at those charters and possibly write things differently.

Luzerne county is not the first county to work through this process.

There are six counties under home rule in Pennsylvania.

Lackawanna County is one in our area.