Urban

Urban

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Luzerne County Council has scheduled a rare special meeting next week to address Republican Councilman Stephen J. Urban’s chairmanship appointment to the county election board by two Republican election board members.

Election board members Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt and Keith Gould went ahead with Urban’s appointment Wednesday after county Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo repeatedly told them the county’s home rule charter clearly prohibits county council members from serving on the board.

The third seated election board member, Democrat Audrey Serniak, also vehemently objected to Urban’s appointment, saying it deviated from the board’s usual practice of publicly seeking and interviewing citizen applicants for the chairmanship seat and that the change was planned outside a public meeting without her knowledge.

Council appoints two Republicans and two Democrats to the election board, and those four then pick a chair.

Dombroski-Gebhardt and Gould had a window of opportunity to carry out plans with only two votes because there was a quorum of three following the recent resignations of Democratic election board member Peter Ouellette and prior chair Jeannette Tait.

However, the board had adopted a chair selection procedure before Tait’s appointment last year requiring a vote from at least three board members to fill the seat.

In her argument that a council member can’t be appointed, Crocamo pointed to a section of the county home rule charter that says: “At the time of his/her appointment, throughout his/her term of office, and for a period of at least four years prior to appointment, no member of the Board of Elections and Registration shall be or have been an elective county official.”

Council Chairman Tim McGinley said Thursday the special council meeting will be held virtually at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday to review and discuss possible action regarding decisions made by the election board.

County Councilwoman Linda McClosky Houck called for a special meeting to vote on vacating both Republican election board seats, saying the home rule charter allows that action when appointed board members have “willfully and knowingly violated sections of the charter.”

McClosky Houck also proposed a resolution vacating the chairmanship seat, saying the action must be taken because the invalid appointment of an elected county official to the board is a charter violation.

County Councilman Matthew Vough also told his colleagues by email they should pursue legal action contesting the “clear violation of the charter.”

During Wednesday’s election board meeting, Dombroski-Gebhardt and Gould both asserted the appointment of Urban was legally permissible, and Dombroski-Gebhardt said anyone who disagrees can pursue a challenge in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg.

In accepting the chairmanship seat, Urban also said the county can challenge his appointment in court if there’s a belief it is not permitted.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.