Luzerne County Courts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

From: Chester B. Muroski, President Judge on behalf of all members of the 11th Judicial District of Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County

MEDIA RELEASE: September 23, 2009

The Luzerne County Court en banc following its recent meeting, with 8 members attending, announces the following:

DISTRICT COURT ADMINISTRATOR

The judges decided to advise Joseph Mittleman, Director of Judicial Programs for the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts, that the members of the Court en banc will be available for interviews for this position to be conducted at 11:30 a.m. on the days that the Court en banc is scheduled to meet and that it is expected the interviews will be conducted on more than one meeting day.

The AOPC will be scheduling interviews and Mr. Mittleman will be present at those interviews. All inquiries will be directed to him.

CHIEF PROBATION OFFICER

The court decided that Michael Vecchio would be appointed Chief Probation Officer and that his salary should be equal to that of the Director of the Domestic Relations Section.

The President Judge, on behalf of all members of the Court en banc, handed down the appropriate appointment Order following the meeting.

ATTORNEY POSITIONS

Judge Augello was authorized to place an advertisement for attorneys who are willing to accept appointments to the following positions:

Masters in divorce, guardian ad litem in custody actions, guardian ad litem in termination of parental rights proceedings, guardian ad litem in guardianship proceedings, and counsel for parents in termination of parental rights proceedings, counsel for parents in dependency proceedings, counsel for children in dependency and termination cases.

It was emphasized that these are not salaried positions but appointments on a case by case basis with payment on an hourly rate with no payment for benefits and in some cases the compensation will be paid by the parties.

2010 COURT BUDGET

Acting Court Administrator Jack Mulroy advised the judges that he was in the process of preparing the budget for 2010. He emphasized that it is important to consider the increased volume of cases and workload for the court and in considering the enormity of concessions made to settle the county budget lawsuit by the current administration, including furloughing numerous personnel; it would difficult to engage in additional cuts for the next budget year. He asked the judges to review the budget and provide him with input.