The LuLac Edition #292, August 26th, 2007

PHOTO INDEX: THE LATE WYOMING AREA SCHOOL DIRECTOR JAKE SOBESKI.

P.J. WANTS OUT!

My cousin P.J. Pribula is not real happy with the doings on Exeter Council. So he wants to resign. But at first they wouldn’t let him, then when the Council called the meeting, P.J. wasn’t happy with the meeting time. So as it stands now, P.J., who won the council seat by a few votes, is still on Council. Here’s a report from the Times Leader’s fine reporter, Bill O’Boyle.


EXETER – Only three of the seven council members showed up at a special meeting called to consider the resignation of Councilman P.J. Pribula.
Pribula wasn’t one of them and council lacked the necessary four needed for a quorum. The meeting was canceled.
Solicitor Peter J. Moses said the meeting will be held at 6:15 p.m. Monday prior to council’s regularly scheduled work session at 7.
Councilmen Richard Murawski, Daniel DeRoberto and Richard Turner attended the meeting. Joseph Pizano, Denise Adams, Joseph Esposito and Pribula were absent.
Murawski directed borough secretary Debra Serbin to advertise the new date and time for the special meeting to comply with the Sunshine Law.
Moses said state law mandates that an elected official’s resignation be accepted by the governing body.
“Because he’s an elected official, council must accept the resignation or he would remain on council,” Moses said. “He could miss every meeting and still be on council because he was elected by the people.”
If Pribula’s resignation is accepted, council would then need to fill the spot. Pribula did not run for re-election this year. His term expires Dec. 31.
Pribula said he didn’t agree with council’s decision to schedule the special meeting for 12:30 p.m. – a time he feels precludes most interested residents from attending due to work and other commitments.
“This was the first meeting this council has ever had at that time,” Pribula said Friday afternoon. “They didn’t want the public to witness the vote.”
Pribula claims that there are two factions on council. He said he is aligned with the three absent council members. He predicts that the vote on his resignation will not be unanimous.
“I can make the motion, but I can’t vote on the motion,” Pribula said. “It looks like it will be a 3-3 vote.”
Pribula was asked why he is resigning if three other council members want him to stay and would pave the way for the formation of a majority.
“It has become routine for myself and other members of council to be excluded from meetings with developers and other governing bodies,” Pribula said in his letter of resignation. “Given the fact that I am consistently shut out by those members bent on minority rule and my concerns for the governmental practices, I have no option other than to tender my resignation.”
At council’s last meeting on Aug. 7, Pribula made a motion to resign from council, but it died due for lack of a second. Pribula said he will be at Monday’s work session but wouldn’t say if he will attend the special meeting.

JAKE’S DAUGHTER SNUBBED

Deceased Wyoming Area School Board Director Jake Sobeski’s daughter was snubbed by the local Democrats and the GOP when she was denied the nomination for the fall election. Sobeski, who served on the Wyoming Area school board for thirty years, some with my uncle, Timmy Pribula died in the spring. His daughter, Cheryl Sobeski Reedy was appointed to fill the vacancy. The powers that be named the football stadium after the late Sobeski but refused to give his daughter the opportunity to run for her own term. Instead they replaced her with West Pittston resident Sam Aritz. The theory was that the organization wanted a representative to run from every town. This is nothing new in Wyoming Area politics. But that long established applecart might be upset because Sobeski Reedy is planning a write in campaign. And as Lackawanna County Commissioner Bob Cordaro proved in the spring, with the new voting machines, it’s pretty easy to write a candidate’s name in for election.