Luzerne County Council set to vote on election board seats

The day before his likely removal from a Luzerne County Election Board chairmanship seat, county Councilman Stephen J. Urban pointed to case law and other legal arguments in his defense.

But county Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo said his legal citations have nothing to do with the indisputable fact that he is barred from serving on the election board as a county council member.

“That is the only issue before council. There’s no blurring of the issue. That’s it,” Crocamo said.

Council is set to vote Tuesday on vacating three election board seats held by Urban and the two fellow Republicans — Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt and Keith Gould — who appointed Urban to the board chairman seat in surprise move last week.

A solid bipartisan county council majority has expressed agreement Urban’s appointment violates the county home rule charter, which states no election board member shall be or have been an elected county official at the time of appointment or for four years prior.

Even if state election law supersedes the charter, the state election law itself — Title 25 — says home rule counties have the choice of designating the election board as the county legislative body or an appointed board or commission, according to both the county solicitor’s office and a state handbook about home rule.

The county charter mandates a five-citizen board — two Democrats and two Republicans appointed by council and a fifth board member/chair of any registration or no affiliation selected by those four.

On Monday, Urban questioned the charter’s legal ability to place restrictions on the council-appointed election board members in selecting their board chair, asserting they are autonomous.

Crocamo said the election board can’t “make up its own rules” in appointing someone in violation of the voter-approved charter. Both council and election board members take an oath to abide by the county’s charter before they are seated, she said.

State law in no way prevents home rule charters from prohibiting council members from serving on the board, including the chairmanship seat, Crocamo said. The only state law mandate is that the election board must include representatives of both major political parties, which it does, she said.

Tuesday’s virtual meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. and will include statements from the county law office and the three “participants” — Urban, Dombroski-Gebhardt and Gould — before council discusses and then votes on the three vacancy declarations, according to a revised agenda.

Dombroski-Gebhardt and Gould had appointed Urban despite Crocamo’s warnings they were “in error” and “making an incorrect decision.”

Other boards

Some citizens have been asking why county council members are permitted to serve on the county Retirement Board that oversees the employee pension fund and the Bi-County Airport Board that oversees the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.

In both cases, the home rule charter expressly requires council members to be among those serving on the retirement and airport boards.

Overall, the charter says no council members shall serve as a member of any county authority, board or commission unless “provided for” in the charter or applicable law.

Citing that provision, county Councilman Walter Griffith has proposed the addition of a resolution at Tuesday’s meeting to remove three council members — Matthew Vough, Kendra Radle and Chris Perry — from the County Cares Commission.

Created last year, the commission also includes citizens and focuses on helping the homeless, those with substance use disorder and others in need.

The county law office and some council members have argued the Cares Commission and the county Blighted Property Review Committee, which also includes a council member, are ad hoc entities that report to council and are different from the boards established by the home rule charter.

Council Chairman Tim McGinley said Griffith’s agenda request may have to wait until council meets the following week because Tuesday’s special meeting was called solely to respond to the election board’s recent action.

Directions to attend Tuesday’s special council meeting are posted under council’s public meetings online section at luzernecounty.org.

Applicants requested

If a council majority vacates the election board seats, the board will be down to one member — Democrat Audrey Serniak — and be unable to meet.

Peter Ouellette had recently resigned from the second Democratic seat.

Dombroski-Gebhardt and Gould were able to appoint Urban to the fifth seat with only two votes last week because there was a quorum of three.

Council-appointed board applicants must be publicly interviewed and screened by council’s Authorities, Boards and Commissions (ABC) Committee before they can be placed on an eligibility list for possible nomination and placement by council.

Only one Democrat is currently on the eligibility list, and it’s unclear if she is still an active applicant because she had been interviewed in the summer of 2019. No Republicans are on the eligibility list.

Applications to serve on any board are posted on the ABC section at luzernecounty.org.