Democrats outline priorities in city council race

May 15—Familiar faces are seeking their party's nomination on the Democratic ticket in the race for Hazleton City Council.

Democrats Tony Colombo, John Nilles and Nicarol Soto seek nomination May 18 for three spots on the ballot in November. A fourth candidate, Democrat Robert Yevak, is running a write-in campaign.

Candidates spoke about their priorities and are listed alphabetically. (Republicans were featured in Friday's edition.)

n Colombo, an incumbent, said he wants to continue building on progress that council made during his first term.

The Berner Avenue resident said he wants to work to improve police, fire and code services and focus on maintaining streets and infrastructure.

"I want to work toward reasonable taxes that don't hit the public hard," Colombo said. "I want to provide a good quality of life for all our residents. I've worked hard for four years and would like to continue to work hard for four more years."

Colombo, 59, serves as highway foreman 2 for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, a position that he said gives him experience working with unionized employees, grant-funded projects, paving and other projects.

n Nilles believes the city would benefit from expanding the workforce in the highway and code departments.

With more code personnel, the city could focus on people who post business signs without getting zoning approval, which could help bring in revenue and offset the costs of the new positions, he said.

"Now, there's not enough people in the time of a day to go through anything," Nilles said of code personnel.

The North Church Street resident believes the city has to come up with new ways to identify revenue, particularly since a service agreement between the city and Hazleton City Authority will expire in three years and leave the city looking for ways to make up more than $400,000 in revenue per year.

Nilles, 53, said he supports efforts taken by the current council and administration to refinance debts to pay for fire trucks but said he disagrees with granting tax exemptions sought by industrial and warehouse developers that want to build in Hazleton.

"We have to focus on where's our funding and where are we getting it from," Nilles said. "We do need the police services and fire services where we're at now. We can't afford to go backward."

Nilles is executive assistant at Luzerne County 911 and wants to reestablish a video production business that he ran in downtown Hazleton for about 15 years.

—Soto, who is running for office for the third time, said she wants to work to improve the quality of life for city residents.

To do that, she believes officials must work to bring jobs to the city and look for ways other than raising property taxes to provide resources for residents.

"We can be doing much better as a city," she said. "If we keep increasing taxes, we are forcing residents who are on fixed incomes to sell our houses and leave the area. By increasing taxes, we are also forcing the landlords to also increase rent. The more money (residents) put into rent, the less quality of life they can give to their own families."

Soto, 33, said the city has to take a creative approach to law enforcement, saying the entire community must get involved to combat crime, improve quality of life and attract more jobs to the area.

Soto, of Berner Avenue, is a computer operator at Hazleton City Authority.

—Yevak, who is running as a write-in on both tickets, said he wants to focus on improving quality of life and holding the mayor accountable.

The local businessman pledges to keep an open door, saying residents can come to him with their issues and won't have to wait and attend a city council meeting for a solution.

"I will address their problems as they come to me," he said. "Most of it is quality of life; it's out of control. I'll go right to the department head and address that problem as they speak."

Yevak, 66, lives on North Locust Street. He ran several businesses throughout the Hazleton area over the past 35 years.

Contact the writer: sgalski@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3586