Lackawanna County judges named Brenda Sacco as the new county commissioner Thursday, potentially resolving a monthslong saga to find a replacement for ex-Commissioner Matt McGloin.
The common pleas court judges’ appointment teams Sacco with a colleague, Commissioner Bill Gaughan – who, along with McGloin, dismissed her 20 months ago as county planning and economic development director.
The judges also voted to choose Lauren Bieber Mailen as the new county clerk of judicial records. She will replace Mauri Kelly, who retired Tuesday.
The judges said the appointments are valid until a successor is elected but no later than Jan. 3, 2028. They avoided the issue of whether special elections scheduled for Nov. 4 mean both women must seek to extend their tenures beyond the special elections to January 2028.
The special elections and the question of whether the judges should have made the appointments Thursday remain the subject of court battles.
Chermak: ‘I’m good with Brenda’
Efforts to reach Sacco were not immediately successful later Thursday.
Commissioner Chris Chermak, the other member of the Board of Commissioners, welcomed Sacco’s return. Chermak was not consulted when Sacco was dismissed.
“I'm good with Brenda. I worked with her, as you know, in my first administration, which was a difficult thing when we had to deal with pandemics and grants and all the things that she helped us with,” Chermak said. “And she was an asset. She's a smart person. I think we'll do fine.”
Gaughan declined to comment Thursday.
No word from Pa. Supreme Court
The appointments may not hold up if the state Supreme Court agrees to hear Gaughan’s and the county’s appeal and overturns lower court rulings that allowed the judges to choose a new commissioner.
Because of the lower court rulings, President Judge James Gibbons said the judges would proceed unless told to stop by the Supreme Court.
A lawyer for Gaughan and the county asked the state’s top court Wednesday for an emergency order blocking the judges from proceeding.
In response, a lawyer for the county Democratic Party, which recommended Sacco and two others to the judges, asked the court to end the appeal.
“For six months, a single Lackawanna County commissioner, William Gaughan, has ground government business nearly to a halt because his preferred choice was not a finalist to fill the nearly three years remaining in a commissioner’s vacated term,” attorney Adam Bonin wrote.
By Thursday evening, the Supreme Court had not issued any order.
Procedural background
Three days after McGloin resigned in February, the county Democratic Party executive committee recommended Sacco, Olyphant Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Bob Casey.
Baldan withdrew from consideration earlier Thursday, county Democratic chairman Chris Patrick said. The judges only interviewed Sacco and Casey. Both declined to comment after their interviews.
McGloin, a Democrat, resigned Feb. 24, and the county Democratic Party almost unanimously recommended the three under a long-used county home rule charter process for filling a vacancy in an elected office. Under the charter, the party of an elected official who resigns recommends three candidates and the judges pick one.
Patrick repeatedly praised Sacco as the most qualified of the three and more qualified than some commissioners.
In a text after the appointment, Patrick said the judges appointed an “excellent public servant.”
“Above all else, she is a workhorse on behalf of the people. She is warm, humble and extremely talented,” Patrick said. “She has our full support and confidence. I sincerely hope Commissioner Gaughan can be fair and give her a shot at being his partner.”
The judges had scheduled interviews with Sacco, Casey and Baldan in March but cancelled them because Gaughan and the county went to court to block the appointment.
They argued the charter process is invalid. They contend state law, the state constitution and a state Supreme Court administrative rule require the county judges to solicit their own applications and choose without a direct party role.
The party fought back with its lawyer arguing the charter process was correct. Allowing a Supreme Court administrative rule to trump the charter would amount to judicial overreach, party attorney Adam Bonin contends.
In April, three senior county common pleas court judges voted 2-1 to support the party’s use of the charter process. The panel also unanimously ruled the county could not play a role in the case because the Board of Commissioners did not authorize a challenge, but said Gaughan could challenge on his own because he’s a commissioner.
Gaughan appealed the rulings on the appointment process to the state Commonwealth Court. Chermak, who had challenged Gaughan’s and the county’s right to challenge, appealed that part of the ruling to the same court.
In June, the Commonwealth Court upheld the county court rulings. Gaughan asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal, but the court has not decided on whether to do that.
County judges opted to proceed
The county judges went ahead with the interviews and appointments, despite two developments in the last week:
● The county Board of Elections scheduled special elections for Nov. 4 for both seats. On Monday, the county Democratic Party challenged the validity of calling a special election for commissioner in county court. A hearing on that is scheduled for Wednesday at 9 a.m.
● Gaughan and the county requesting the emergency order barring the commissioner appointment.
Closed door process; Gibbons cites ‘personnel’
Like the Democratic Party did when it recommended the possible McGloin replacements, the judges met behind closed doors. They met in a courtroom on the first floor of the county Government Center.
President Judge James Gibbons declined to open the interviews and deliberations to the public Wednesday when asked about doing that by WVIA News.
“It’s a personnel matter,” Gibbons said.
Besides interviewing Sacco and Casey, the judges interviewed Bieber Mailen, former congressional aide Colleen Eagen Gerrity and Taylor Mayor Loni Kavulich for the clerk job.
After about three hours, Gibbons left the Government Center with court administrator Frank Castellano but declined comment. The judges issued the orders appointing Sacco and Bieber Mailen just before 8 p.m.
Seven of the eight current common pleas court judges signed the orders. Only Judge Terrence R. Nealon did not.
Nealon recused himself because he is a member of the Board of Elections and has advocated for the appointments lasting only until the November special election takes place, court administrator Frank Casetellano said in an email. Castellano said Nealon recused himself after obtaining that advice from the state Judicial Ethics Advisory Board.
Sacco has extensive business background
Sacco, 53, a Dunmore resident, served as county planning and economic development director for five years until her dismissal shortly after Gaughan and McGloin took office in January 2024. Before that, she served years as deputy director.
Sacco had extensive business background before joining the county.
She worked more than a decade in banking in New York City, ran a popular Dunmore restaurant, then returned to financial work locally.
The resume she submitted for her county job in 2012 outlines her pre-county work history in detail. WVIA News obtained the resume through a right-to-know request.
“I feel that with my experience in the financial industry, my exceptional analytical, organizational and communications skills and my knowledge of real estate, sales, purchasing and marketing, the opportunity at your organization would be a perfect fit for me,” Sacco wrote in a cover letter accompanying her September 2012.
Since leaving the county, Sacco spent three months – March to June 2024 – as a consultant on federal Housing and Urban Development programs for Capital Access Inc., according to her LinkedIn page.
In July, the Carbon Chamber & Economic Development Corp. announced her hiring as its new director of economic development for Carbon County, according to an online news release.
Sacco didn’t stay in that job long, but in an email several months ago her chamber boss was happy she might soon be a county commissioner.
“That's wonderful news for Lackawanna County!” said Kylie Adams-Weiss, senior vice president for the corporation. “Brenda left the CCEDC in October for a different position closer to home. She was an asset to the organization when she was here.”
In October, Sacco began working as an administrative officer for the State Workers’ Insurance Fund, which oversees workers compensation insurance payments. Her salary is $80,841 a year.
As commissioner, she will earn $88,929.
At the insurance fund, she worked with George Kelly, the county director of economic development when she was the deputy.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS
Lackawanna County Commissioner Matt McGloin's resignation in February touched off a complex, monthslong replacement battle. For anyone trying to keep track of who's who and what happened when, here is a rundown of key developments.
