WILKES-BARRE - Gay Luzerne County employees involved in same-sex domestic partnerships are required to file affidavits to identify themselves as such but will still not be permitted to collect benefits, according to a new administrative code approved Tuesday by county council.

The requirement is not a roundabout attempt to extend employee benefits to same-sex partners of employees, council Chairman Jim Bobeck said. The code addresses and defines domestic partners because anti-nepotism prohibitions and restrictions affect domestic partners of employees, Bobeck said.

The county does not provide employee benefits to domestic partners of the same or opposite sex. Council must vote to extend benefits to domestic partners through an ordinance or a collective bargaining agreement with a union, Bobeck said.

The new code defines a domestic partner as "a person in a committed relationship between two individuals of the same gender."

According to the code, domestic partners must also be at least 18 years old, not related by marriage or blood, "in a committed lifetime relationship," live together and "financially interdependent for at least one year."

Rich Hefron, a former county employee and member of the county commission that wrote the home-rule charter, said council "is opening the door" to costly litigation by addressing domestic partners in the administrative code.

"You're going to be sorry," Hefron said. "It doesn't make any sense."

The new code requires an employee to notify the personnel director in writing of any change in the status of a domestic partnership within 10 days of a change.

The vote approving the new code was 8-2. Stephen A. Urban, who voted against the code, said addressing domestic partners in the code was going to lead to extending health benefits to same-sex partners.

Clerk to council

Council also voted Tuesday to interview five applicants for the clerk to council job. Councilman Edward Brominski said he abstained because council was not following merit-hiring procedures required by the personnel code.

Urban said he abstained because an ethics complaint was filed against council for violating hiring procedures. The county ethics commission voted Tuesday on what to do with the complaint in a session closed to the public, said Controller Walter L. Griffith Jr., one of five members of the ethics commission.

The commission plans to inform council of the decision but may have violated the state Sunshine Act by not voting in public, said Griffith, who didn't disclose details about the vote.

The clerk to council is responsible for preparing motions and resolutions, coordinates communication to all 11 council members and helps Bobeck prepare meeting agendas. Council received 101 applications, and the names of the applicants have not been disclosed.

The home-rule charter established an 11-member council as the county's new legislative body. Council members were elected in November, and when they took office Jan. 2, they appointed Colette Check as interim clerk to council.

Her interim appointment ends June 30. Check's annual salary is $35,000 a year.

mbuffer@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2073