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WILKES-BARRE — City council members — including three new faces — were sworn into office during an organizational meeting Monday night.
The meeting, held in the lobby of the F.M. Kirby Center on Public Square, featured a packed house as members of city council swore their oaths.
The meeting included several new faces from November’s election.
Michael Belusko was accompanied by his triplet grandsons, Brody, Conor and Logan Richardson. Belusko, 54, a Democrat, won with 50 percent of the vote to win the nomination for District A.
Belusko said he looked forward to working together with his fellow council members, as well as new Mayor Tony George’s administration, to move the city forward.
Tony Brooks, a travel agent and former executive director of the Luzerne County Historical Society, captured the District B council seat as the Republican candidate. He was accompanied by his parents, Emily and Tony Novakowski, as he was sworn in.
Brooks, 50, acknowledged that the city came from a “great past,” but said council would help to move the city to a great future.
Beth Gilbert, 21, a senior at Wilkes University, won the Democratic nomination for District C. She was accompanied by her mother, Susan, and fiancé, Kyle Kocher, as she was sworn in.
She called the experience “overwhelming,” but was excited to get to work.
“I have a great feeling about the group we have up here,” she said. “I think great things are going to happen.”
Darren Snyder, a Democrat, was also sworn in as the new city controller.
Outgoing councilman George Brown hoped that the new council “would work closely” with the new mayor, and advised the new council members to “make decisions that you know in your heart and mind are the right decisions for the people in the city of Wilkes-Barre.”
Outgoing councilwoman Lavelle thanked citizens for electing her, and had high hopes as the new council looks to the future.
“I’m hoping that everyone can work together, that’s the most important thing,” she said.
Also at the meeting, council voted unanimously to appoint William Barrett as chairman and Mike Merritt as vice chairman.
Getting to work
After the meeting had adjourned, the new members of city council said they were ready to get to work.
Belusko said crime and blighted properties were two things he wanted to focus on.
Gilbert, who graduates in May and is the youngest on council, said that “a vast majority” of citizens have told her they want a fresh perspective in city government. Like Belusko, she hopes to address crime and blighted properties.
“If we can’t address those issues, then we’re not going to have a stable residency in the area or anything like that,” she said.
Brooks, however, is focusing on each neighborhood in the city and creating residency associations for each of them.
“Only one, the downtown, has a residency association now,” he said. “We just launched one in South Wilkes-Barre.”
Brooks explained that the associations would enable residents to get to know each other and serve as a “conduit to have communication” between the neighborhoods and city government.
Gathering as a community, he added, is another possibility.
“There’s all kinds of projects that people can do when they work together,” Brooks said. “Anywhere from throwing a community block party to raising money for a local playground.”
He added that associations will be launching in Heights and Mayflower, and another for Rolling Mill Hill will be launched in the coming weeks.
