The Lackawanna County commissioners formally accepted Commissioner Matt McGloin’s resignation Wednesday, clearing the way for judges to appoint his replacement.
County court administrator Frank Castellano said the county court of common pleas will issue an order Thursday explaining its process for choosing McGloin's successor.
Castellano declined to provide more specifics.
Under the county home rule charter, the common pleas judges must choose McGloin's replacement from among three recommendations selected Thursday by the county Democratic Party executive committee. In ranked order, the committee recommended former county planning and economic development director Brenda Sacco, Olyphant Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Bob Casey.
Commissioners Bill Gaughan and Chris Chermak voted to accept the resignation at a regular meeting with Gaughan saying he voted yes only with regret. Gaughan praised McGloin for joining him in making difficult decisions to improve the county. Gaughan did not specifically mention it, but both voted to raise property taxes 33% this year.
"I respect his decision to resign and I wish him nothing but the best, and his entire family." he said.
Gaughan, a Democrat, had less kind words for the county Democratic Party's process for selecting a replacement. He said the process "threatens to turn the county over to a small group of politicos." The process deprives the court of "its statutory duty and authority to oversee the application and selection process and ... to conduct the process openly and transparently," he said.
"Unfortunately for the court, it was handed a short list of candidates, people that have not been fully vetted," Gaughan said. "That is not fair to the court, the good citizens of Lackawanna County or legitimate, interested applicants that were ignored and turned away."
Gaughan wanted Dunmore Mayor Max Conway to get the appointment, but Conway said the party chairman told him he didn't meet the committee's selection "rubric."
County Democratic Chairman Chris Patrick said Wednesday the rubric included education and experience in government, a profession, economic development, budgeting and working for the Democratic executive committee.
"I really don’t care what Gaughan has to say," he said in a text. "It was done fairly and more transparent than his process for picking his one and only candidate .. Bill Gaughan had no interest in anyone that applied. His closed-door process was for one person and no one else."
Gaughan has said he talked to several people, but declined to name them.
Patrick has declined to name all 18 people who applied to the party to replace McGloin. He cites concerns about upsetting their current employers. He has repeatedly talked about the shortness of the five-day window the county party had to choose the three.
"The tainted process that was used invites further challenges," Gaughan said. "My resolve to stand up for what the law requires, and the transparency that the citizens of Lackawanna County deserve is undiminished."
He predicted "the light of day will, as it always does, eventually shine on the facts beyond the closed-door process used to hand pick these candidates."
"The facts are always stubborn," Gaughan said. "People have a right to know how commissioners are chosen. All interested applicants should be considered by the court. It is in that context, and only that context, that I regretfully accept Commissioner McGloin's resignation."
Chermak said it's time for the county "to move past this moment and refocus on the real work ahead."
"Getting this county back on track as quickly as possible," he said. "The financial challenges we face require our full attention, and we simply cannot afford to be distracted by delays or uncertainty. It's imperative that we move forward and get back to doing the job we were elected to do. And that's what the people of Lackawanna County expect and that's what they deserve."
McGloin resigned Feb. 24 to take a football-related job at Boston College, though he quit that job within days.
Last week, county solicitor Don Frederickson said the resignation would only take effect when the remaining commissioners accepted it. Frederickson also said the county has a policy of allowing someone to return to a job as long as it isn’t filled.
In an interview Tuesday, McGloin ruled out a return.
Gaughan declined to comment on his preference among the three party-recommended choices.
"I'm going to leave it up to the court," he said. "Let them make the decision and we'll go from there."
He ruled out challenging the process in court himself. He also declined to comment on the possibility the court might choose Sacco. McGloin and Gaughan dismissed her shortly after they took office in January 2024.
Chermak, who was not part of replacing Sacco, declined to comment on his preference, too. He said he thinks Sacco did a good job. He's not familiar enough with the others to comment, he said.
