Lackawanna County Clerk of Judicial Records Mauri Kelly will step down in September, a rare mid-term departure for an incumbent row officer who isn't a district attorney or commissioner.
Kelly, a Democrat re-elected in 2023 to a third four-year term, said she will resign effective Sept. 2 with “a sense of pleasure and sincere gratitude,” according to a copy of her resignation letter submitted Friday.
Kelly has served in the job since January 2016. She won a six-candidate Democratic Party primary election in May 2015 and the Republican nomination through write-in votes.
She won the office unopposed that November. She ran without Democratic or Republican opposition in 2019 and 2023 to win re-election.
Kelly, a Dunmore resident, worked for the county for 20 years before her election as a clerk in the Tax Claim Bureau and as a prison records supervisor.
“It has been my honor to serve the citizens of Lackawanna County,” she said in the letter.
In a telephone interview, Kelly said turning 62 recently — the minimum age for collecting Social Security — factored into her decision.
“After my 30 years here in Lackawanna County, having different roles, I just felt that it's the right time to move on,” Kelly said.
Since assuming the job, she’s increased the office’s ability to scan legal documents and make them quickly available to the public online, she said.
“Which has been beneficial to a lot of the judicial community, the legal community, title searchers,” Kelly said. “I barely see a title searcher in my office anymore, because a lot of it, everything that they need, is online.”
The salary for Kelly and most row offices is $77,414 a year.
She acknowledged a frustration in failing to complete the installation of an electronic legal document filing system and not getting other things done because of high staff turnover. Salaries in her office start at $24,000 a year, far too low to keep good employees around, she said. She has asked the commissioners to boost salaries.
“I have respect for the commissioners, the role of the commissioners deeply, but I have no ill feelings,” she said.
The county has seven elected row officers who aren’t either commissioners or district attorney: clerk of judicial records, controller, treasurer, coroner, recorder of deeds, register of wills and sheriff. Once in office, they rarely face opposition for re-election. That had led to calls to let commissioners appoint row officers rather than allowing voters to elect them, but voters have said no.
In 2013, voters overwhelmingly rejected eliminating the election of the sheriff, clerk of judicial records, recorder of deeds and register of wills.
Since 1990, Kelly is only the second row officer who isn’t a county commissioner or district attorney to resign mid-term. In that time, several have served five four-year terms or more, usually without opposition.
In May 1992, Coroner William Sweeny resigned amid a criminal investigation and Joseph Brennan replaced him. Brennan, who planned to retire in January 2012 after his latest term expired, resigned a year early. Current Coroner Tim Rowland replaced him and still holds the office.
In December 2002, Clerk of Judicial Records Bill Rinaldi died while in office, and his wife Mary replaced him. She won three four-year terms of her own before retiring. Kelly replaced her.
In the last 35 years, district attorneys resigned mid-term three times to become common pleas court judges - Michael Barrasse in January 2000, Andy Jarbola in January 2016 and Mark Powell in February.
In the same time, commissioners have resigned four times – Randy Castellani in May 2005, A.J. Munchak in June 2011 after a criminal corruption conviction, Corey O’Brien in March 2015 and Matt McGloin in February.
Normally, under the county home rule charter, the county Democratic Party has the right to recommend three potential replacements and county common pleas court judges pick one of the three, but that provision faces a court challenge.
Commissioner Bill Gaughan and the Democratic Party are battling in court over whether that's the valid procedure. The party defends the procedure. Gaughan contends state law and a judicial rule require the court solicit new applications and pick a commissioner.
County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick and county Solicitor Don Frederickson said Monday they will wait until county court judges settle that case before determining the process for replacing Kelly.
Frederickson said he will begin researching the matter.
