Luzerne County Government

February 8, 2010

Bill lets members have vote to fill job

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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Though Stephen Urban and Maryanne Petrilla sit alongside fellow Luzerne County Commissioner Thomas Cooney, they had no say in the process that put him there. That process would change under a bill moving along in the state Senate.

When a replacement was needed to fill the unexpired term of Greg Skrepenak, who resigned just before he was charged in the ongoing federal corruption probe, the judges on the county’s court of common pleas accepted applications, conducted interviews and selected the replacement.

They chose Cooney from a pool of 68 applicants. They swore him in and he was seated alongside Petrilla and Urban the next day just in time for budget discussions.

“Don’t get me wrong, I find Commissioner Cooney to be wonderful and I think he’s doing a fine job, but I do think the sitting board members should fill a vacancy,” Petrilla said. “We had absolutely no input.”

Senate Bill 1024, a bipartisan effort to amend the Pennsylvania County Code, would make sure that doesn’t happen again, though county judges could still get their chance if the remaining commissioners can not reach agreement in a timely manner.

The bill, which was unanimously voted out of the joint House-Senate Local Government Commission and then by the Senate Local Government Committee, would give remaining commissioners 30 days to try to fill the position.

If they can not, then the county’s Vacancy Board would convene and have 15 days to agree to a replacement. That board consists of the two county commissioners and a member of the county’s electorate appointed at the beginning of the year.

If that board can not reach an agreement, then the courts would step in and appoint someone.

“I think that’s fair,” Petrilla said.

She said while in some counties having to fill a vacancy might not seem like a big deal but it’s becoming commonplace locally.

“It’s something you don’t think may happen, but here it’s happened a lot,” Petrilla said. Two years before judges chose Cooney to replace Skrepenak, they appointed Rose Tucker to fill the remainder of Todd Vonderheid’s commissioner seat. Vonderheid had resigned to take a position as chief executive of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry.

And it could happen again next year. Urban, whose term runs through 2011, has said he is considering running for either lieutenant governor or state Senate this year.

Lee Derr, the executive director of the Senate’s Local Government Committee, said the matter was raised by the County Commissioner Association of Pennsylvania and brought to the attention of lawmakers in Harrisburg.

“While there’s good relationships between the court and the commissioners in some counties, there was a concern that commissioners should be replaced by the same procedure as boroughs and townships,” Derr said.

According to township and borough codes, filling a vacancy created when a member steps down or is removed is at the discretion of the remaining board members. If they can not agree, then like the proposal in the bill, the matter moves on to a vacancy board. Without agreement there then it too moves on to the court.

The bill is currently being considered by the full Senate. If approved, it would head to the House Local Government Committee for consideration.

Brett Marcy, spokesman for House Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township, said that without having a bill in that chamber for consideration, it was premature to comment on it.

“When we get it we’ll certainly give it full consideration,” Marcy said.

Senate Bill 1024 is not the only change to a municipal code book being looked at by the Senate. Repealing some language dealing with removing elected officials from offices in boroughs, towns and townships is also under consideration.

If the bills are approved, they’d repeal sections of the borough and township codes addressing the removal of council members or township supervisors or commissioners. That action would require an act of the Senate and governor, instead of motions made by other council members or the courts.

The language removal is required because of a court ruling that found the codes unconstitutional in the way they went about permitting for the removal of elected officers.

Right now, each code spells out ways to remove a member and fill the vacancy. But according to the state courts, only the governor and Senate have the power to remove a municipal board member. Derr said the language being removed from the codes is a housekeeping matter since the court has already ruled they’re not valid.

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