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Luzerne County voters will select a county controller and five county council members in 2017.
County Controller Michelle Bednar, a Democrat who took office in January 2014, said she will seek a second term.
The controller is the “independent watchdog over county fiscal and management activities,” according to the county’s home rule charter.
Paid $64,999 annually through a four-year term, the controller has authority to conduct audits of any county department, authority, board or commission and latitude to perform a wide range of reviews, including fiscal, performance, management, contract and compliance audits.
The five out of 11 council seats up for grabs are currently held by Republicans Kathy Dobash and Harry Haas, Democrats Linda McClosky Houck and Eileen Sorokas and Independent Rick Williams.
Council members receive $8,000 annually. The council approves the budget and larger contracts, appoints members to outside county boards, enacts codes and ordinances and hires and evaluates the manager.
McClosky Houck, Williams and Haas have served on council since the county’s customized home rule government structure took effect five years ago, in January 2012.
Williams said he is undecided on another run and has more time to decide because Independent contenders enter the race after the May 16 primary.
Democrats and Republicans can start circulating and filing nomination petitions on Feb. 14. March 7 is the filing deadline to appear on the May 19 primary election ballot.
Haas and McClosky Houck also said they are still assessing whether they will run.
Sorokas said she won’t be on ballot because she never intended to seek a second term. Instead, she said she will stay involved in county happenings after her term expires the end of 2017 and will support council candidates she believes will “hold the line on county taxes and keep an eye on the county manager.”
Dobash said publicly in May she was not running again but said last week she may reconsider at the urging of others. She also said she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of running for county controller.
Former controller Walter Griffith and county Councilman Stephen A. Urban also have been mentioned as possible controller contenders by political insiders. Griffith said he hasn’t decided if he will run. Urban said he has not made any plans about future runs for any office.
Both men were on the ballot for controller in the 2013 primary — Griffith as incumbent Republican and Urban as a Democrat. Bednar secured the Democratic nomination. Griffith withdrew from the race as part of a plea agreement for wiretapping, and the Republican nomination went to Carolee Medico Olenginski that August.
Griffith completed probation in September for his guilty plea on three misdemeanor charges of obstructing the administration of justice. Authorities said he recorded three conversations without obtaining permission of those taped as required by state law — a 2010 phone call with county pension fund officials, a retirement board closed-door executive session that same year and a 2011 phone call with Y. Judd Shoval, a member of the nonprofit CityVest board that handled the failed Hotel Sterling renovation project in Wilkes-Barre.
Griffith, who regularly speaks out about county issues through email or at meetings, has said he can run for public office again, although it’s unclear if that interpretation would hold up under a challenge. The state constitution says people convicted of certain crimes are barred from holding public office, but a case law analysis would be necessary to determine if obstructing the administration of justice would fall into this category.
In addition to the county office races, the 2017 ballot will include contenders for numerous other seats, including mayors, municipal council members and supervisors, school boards members, tax collectors and magisterial districts judges.