Lackawanna County commissioners reorganize leadership; Sacco named chair after procedural confusion and conflict questions

The Lackawanna County Board of Commissioners moved to reorganize its leadership during a contentious public meeting that included prolonged public comment about the county—s property reassessment and questions about conflicts of interest.

After a voice vote to suspend Robert—s Rules of Order, the board voted to vacate the chair and appointed County Solicitor Paul Walker as acting chair for the purpose of reorganization. A subsequent motion to appoint Commissioner Brenda Sacco as board chair initially failed after Sacco abstained; a second motion to appoint her passed on a roll-call vote, and Commissioner Sacco was declared chair. The board also appointed Commissioner Schirmack as vice chair and adopted Robert—s Rules for future meetings. The board set its regular meeting days for the first and third Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the Commissioners Conference Room.

The meeting record shows procedural confusion during the votes. An initial motion to appoint Sacco as chair was made and seconded but did not carry after Sacco announced an abstention, which meeting participants later said…