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Luzerne County council agrees to pursue amendment to residency rule for division heads
Summary
Council members debated removing a five-year residency requirement for certain management positions and agreed to bring a clean amendment back for a public vote at the next voting session.
Luzerne County Council members discussed and agreed to pursue an amendment that would remove a five-year residency provision from the county personnel code for certain division-head and management positions. Council member Mister Haas proposed striking the sentence that requires continued employment after five years of county residency and asked that the amendment be placed on the agenda for the next voting session so the public can review it.
Council members said the change is intended to widen the pool of qualified applicants and reduce politics in hiring. "I think I made the case pretty succinctly last meeting," Mister Haas said, adding later, "So on the introduction, I would just remove the 5 years component from the new from the new change."
The proposal drew no formal vote in the work session but council leadership said the amendment would be introduced for formal consideration at the council's next voting session so it can be posted publicly and decided in a public meeting. That was presented as the next procedural step; no ordinance change took effect at the work session.
Supporters said removing the clause would increase competition for senior positions and might attract candidates who live outside the county but work in the region. A council member asked for the precise text to be removed; the change identified was the clause beginning "after the employment has attained 5 years of continued employment with the county." The chair confirmed the amendment would be drafted and placed on the upcoming voting-session agenda for a public vote.
Council members emphasized procedural fairness: the amendment will be posted in advance and voted in a voting session where the public may comment before any final action. No formal motion to adopt the ordinance change was taken during the work session; the matter was set up to return for a public vote.
If the council adopts the amendment at the voting session, the personnel code language requiring the five-year residency component would be removed as described by the proposed text. Until then, the residency requirement remains unchanged.
The discussion lasted several minutes and was the first item on the work-session agenda.
