Scranton council nixes mayor pick for recreation authority at Nay Aug Park

Scranton native Sam Kuchwara, 72, a Marine veteran who has volunteered at Nay Aug Park for many years and knows it inside-out, would be a shoo-in to serve on the city recreation authority, except for one thing - he now lives in Dickson City, Scranton council members said Tuesday.

Council voted 4-1 at their weekly meeting Tuesday to nix Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti's pick of Kuchwara to fill a vacancy on the Scranton Municipal Recreation Authority that oversees Nay Aug Park, according to an Electric City Television simulcast and video of the meeting posted on YouTube.

Council President Tom Schuster and Councilmen Patrick Flynn, Mark McAndrew and Sean McAndrew all voted no on a resolution backing the mayor's appointment of Kuchwara, while Councilwoman Jessica Rothchild cast the lone yes vote in favor of putting Kuchwara on the recreation authority board.

The four councilmen all roundly praised and thanked Kuchwara for his many long years of volunteerism and dedication to Nay Aug Park, but they all said they voted no because he is no longer a Scranton resident. The foursome also blamed the mayor for putting forth an appointment of a nonresident and questioned how much outreach the administration actually did to drum up potential applicants.

"The administration was made aware that not living in the city was a nonstarter for appointments to boards and authorities, yet for some reason Mr. Kuchwara's name was still sent over. I do not believe that is fair to Mr. Kuchwara and puts me personally in a terrible position of having to publicly vote on someone that I have a great deal of respect for and know personally," Flynn said. "At the same time, the last thing we should do as a city is discourage former residents or community members from continuing to invest their time, energy and even their own resources into our parks."

Sean McAndrew said, "I would love to say yes to Mr. Kuchwara. He's an excellent volunteer and I commend him for everything he does. I just wish he lived in the city and that would be an easy yes."

City employees no longer have a residency requirement. That mandate had been in effect for many years but was reversed a few years ago under labor contract, grievance and arbitration processes. Council's rejection of Kuchwara means volunteers on boards, commissions and authorities have a residency requirement, even though city employees do not.

"I also want to thank him (Kuchwara) for his service and devotion to the park. None of that is questionable. What's questionable is why it was sent down knowing, the mayor knowing, that it violates our policy," Mark McAndrew said. "We can't go down that road where we set a precedent."

Schuster added, "The simple fact is that Mr. Kuchwara does not live in the city. The mayor brought this point up to me and despite this fact decided to press the issue and did so at Mr. Kuchwara's expense. Tonight I'm going to vote to do what's best I feel for this body moving forward with this administration."

In casting the lone vote to back Kuchwara's appointment, Rothchild said there are few people who have devoted as much time to the park as he has done.

"I see Nay Aug as a place that everyone can enjoy, not just residents, and other people can care about, too," she said. "We get visitors from all over just to see the park, the gem of Scranton. So I don't really see it in the same light as him beating out a resident or someone else who could be on the authority board. I don't really think there are many better people than him and I am supportive of him serving on the board."

In a statement Wednesday, Cognetti also cited Kuchwara's decades of volunteerism at the park, and noted he is a leading proponent of getting a traveling wall honoring the veterans of the Vietnam War and a display honoring the sacrifice of service members from World War I through Operation Enduring Freedom to make a visit to Nay Aug Park this coming fall, on Oct. 2-4.

"Dating back to his childhood, Sam Kuchwara has shown a passion for keeping Nay Aug Park the crown jewel of Scranton's parks system. His dedication to Nay Aug is clear with his near-daily presence at the park, doing a variety of work including keeping up our veterans memorials," Cognetti said. "We aim to appoint members to the SMRA board who want Nay Aug to remain an incredible city asset and are dedicated to its upkeep, which Sam has proven through his decades of service."

In an interview Wednesday, Kuchwara expressed disappointment in the council majority's rejection of him serving on the authority board. He noted he lived in the city near the park for 65 years and has long volunteered there.

"Even when I came back from Vietnam, I volunteered," Kuchwara said.

His more-recent volunteerism has ranged from installing benches and picnic tables to doing most of the construction on an addition to a concession stand building to create a community room. This space has become an asset as a location for hosting various governmental and community meetings and as a home to a VFW post.

Kuchwara said the mayor, as well as Flynn and Rothchild, had expressed support of him getting on the authority board. Flynn on Wednesday said he initially was going to back the appointment but did not know Kuchwara had moved out of the city - and that changed the equation for Flynn.

"I did say at that point I would be supportive, but I did not know that Sam did not live in the city," Flynn said. "It would have been a slam dunk" appointment if he lived in Scranton.

Despite the council rejection, Kuchwara said, "I'm still going to do volunteer work up there. I'm still going to help them. It's for the people, it's not for the city council."

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