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Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Why County Row Officers Should Be Appointed

Berks County's former Recorder of Deeds has just been indicted by the feds for stealing money over the years.  She was one of several elected row officers.

One county west, Lehigh County, has only one elected row officer, a Superclerk who does it all.

One county west, Northampton County, has no elected row officers. They're all appointed.

In Pennsylvania's byzantine labyrinth of 67 counties, there are 67 ways of doing things. But some things, like real estate transactions, demand uniformity and consistency. The state claims to be working on rules designed to promote that uniformity.

I'd argue that there's no reason to elect row officers. They tend to be filled by political hacks who have no real understanding of what is involved in maintaining and preserving real estate records. Many of them end up eventually get into trouble.

William the Conqueror, with his Domesday Book, started the uniform system that still exists today. But he appointed his officials.

Until they pissed him off.

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11 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 1, 2012 at 3:47 AM

    So elected politicans appoint those who helped them amd we get hacks anyway. It's a wash.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 1, 2012 at 6:30 AM

    and the bards lambasted william the conqueror for giving all those appointments to individuals who gave him contributions in his campaign against harold the saxon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 1, 2012 at 6:37 AM

    Ho hum.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousAugust 1, 2012 at 7:00 AM

    Appointed Personnel are the only ones that don't steal!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousAugust 1, 2012 at 10:51 AM

      When the one setting up the oppointment is stealing in the first place than the oppointee needs there share of the plunder too.

      Delete
  5. AnonymousAugust 1, 2012 at 7:43 AM

    Shouldn't it be "one county East" not "one county West"?

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousAugust 1, 2012 at 8:56 AM

    I remember Charlie Young, Northampton County's elected recorder of deeds. He took the time and patience to treat any county resident as royalty. such customer service was lost when these positions were appointed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bernie O'HareAugust 1, 2012 at 9:29 AM

    7:43, So it should.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Gerald E. (Jerry) SeyfriedAugust 1, 2012 at 11:18 AM

    Bernie, a friend of mine asked me to respond to your logic about appointing "Row Office" Department heads. This is my opinion. Open for debate.
    I, as a private citizen didn't like the idea of losing the ability to elect County Row Office Officials. I later changed my mind. Here's the reasons. Today, Northampton County promotes and compels competitive testing for all these positions. There are "Career Service Regulations" that are updated periodically to assure that we are getting the best individuals to head these departments. All the positions under the Department head are also filled by testing. Highest test results usually result in getting the promotion. Most of our Department Heads have years of on hand experience. Under the Row Office Election system, it was a popularity contest and the newly elected official gave out the jobs in those respective offices to political hacks. That doesn't happen anymore in Northampton county. There is also a grievance procedure in place for any individual who feels they were passed over for a promotion. There is an independent Board of arbitrators who will hear the case and they have the authority to override the decision of the appointing authority. There are also safeguards as to posting of all test scores to eliminate someone with a low test score being interviewed before someone with a very high test score. Northampton county is the leader in this field. I don't want to bore you with lots of details, but I do want your readers to know that Northampton County has a great staff of employees. Most of this is because we no longer elect "row Offices".

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousAugust 1, 2012 at 12:10 PM

    "They tend to be filled by political hacks who have no real understanding of what is involved ..."

    You've just described the Bridge Commission, Bernie. The appointed Bridge Commission.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousAugust 1, 2012 at 4:11 PM

    The great legacy of Jacksonian democracy.....appoint everybody down to the dog catcher...

    ReplyDelete

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