Szulborski is a Democrat.
"This is deja vu all over again," he said at yesterday's meeting of County Council's Personnel Committee.
Council member John Cusick, who welcomed Szulborski back, nevertheless raised a question about just how long the appointment should last under the County's Home Rule Charter. Is it until the next municipal election is 2023? Is it next year's primary? Should there be a special election?
Although the prevailing view and practice is that the appointment is good until the next municipal election, the Charter itself is unclear.
Council members Bill McGee and Lori Vargo-Heffner both complimented Szulborski for "stepping up." Vargo-Heffner added, "There've been a couple of great Bucky's who stood up in October. One was Dent," referring to former Yasnkee Bucky Dent.
County Council will vote on Szulborski's appointment tonight.
Szulborski has served on various organizations, including Camelot for Children, the Catholic Youth Organization, the Sun Inn Preservation Association, the Bethlehem Recreation Commission, the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission and the Bethlehem Area Public Library Board.
Szulborski and I sometimes had lunch together in his previous stint as Contoller. We managed to solve the world's problems in 15 minutes every day.
5 comments:
Good man. welcome back Bucky.
The Northampton County Home Rule Charter ARTICLE I titled "ELECTION OFFICIALS" spells out what occurs when their is a vacancy in office. If the vacancy occurs in the first two years the person appointed serves until the next "COUNTY ELECTION". If the vacancy occurs in the last two years of the term, the individual appointed serves out the remainder of the term.
The Charter is set up to have County Elections every two years.
Act 62 session of 1972 which allows municipalities to draft their own Home Rule Charter also spells out how vacancies are to be filled. Article D Section 121 titled "FILLING VACANCIES IN OFFICE Section 1231, section 1232 should be the law to follow if the County Charter appears to be unclear.
That vacancy section of the HRC does not say "COUNTY ELECTION" it says "next election to be held in the County"
You are conveniently omitting a major part of the law and I think intentionally. If a vacancy occurs in the office of an elected official and the next election is less than 60 days from the time of the vacancy, the person appointed to the vacant office will fill out the unexpired term of the office. If the vacancy occurs 75 days before the next election the person appointed will only serve to the end of that year. In this case, both parties Republican and Democrat alike will nominate someone to have their name appear on the ballot and they would be candidates in the next election. The person so elected shall serve from the first Monday of January next succeeding his election for the remainder of the term of the person originally elected to such office. In this case the vacancy occurred to close to the next election therefore the person appointed will serve out the unexpired term the same as if the vacancy occurred during the last two years of the individuals term of office.
The law is the law is the law, no matter how you try to twist it.
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