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Study commission gets nowhere, calls it quits
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — The group charged with looking into an alternative form of county government has disbanded, unable to make any recommendations because of its inability to achieve a quorum.
The chairman of the Lawrence County Government Study Commission submitted its final report to Lawrence County commissioners last week.
Lawrence County Commissioner Steve Craig read the report at the commissioners’ caucus meeting Thursday, remarking that the study commission had “achieved nothing and concluded nothing.” The group submitted bills of $16,498, for legal ads, copying, legal services and secretarial assistance. Most have been paid, but Craig said a $2,720 legal bill included in the sum will be left unpaid on the advice of the county solicitor.
Study commission Chairman David Kennaday was the only member who signed the letter and summary of the group’s activities read at the caucus meeting.
Kennaday stated in his letter, “The purpose of this is to bring some degree of finality to the work and life of the [study] commission.”
Kennaday’s summary states that the study commission “has lapsed without making any recommendation” because the commission has been unable to achieve a quorum since September 2008 when member John Russo accepted an appointment to New Castle City Council and was determined by Lawrence County Solicitor Thomas Leslie to be unable to serve in both positions simultaneously. Kennaday said the inability to achieve a quorum is also why he is the only signer of the study.
Craig also read an opinion that county commissioners had requested from Leslie, asking him to determine the status of the study commission. In it Leslie states that he believes the study commission has now been discharged. Leslie explained that the commission was elected Nov. 6, 2007, and that the initial nine-month period in which it was supposed to make recommendations ended Aug. 6, 2008. Before that date, the study commission announced it would be considering a home-rule charter, which extended the period for another nine months, bringing the deadline to May 6, 2009. Leslie stated that the study commission also indicated it was considering election of council members by district, which extended the deadline to July 6, 2009.
Leslie said the final deadline has now passed with no findings or recommendation by the Study Commission. Though the law does not provide for discharge of a Study Commission that fails to file a report of findings and recommendations, Leslie said that it requires the Study Commission be discharged on filing of its report or when any final referendums required to be put before the electorate are concluded.
He said that the deadline for a report has passed with no findings, and without findings, there can be no referendum. So, he said, by implication, the Study Commission is discharged.
Though Kennaday said the group’s secretary/treasurer will be giving County Chief Clerk and Administrator Jim Gagliano Jr. all the records created by the Study Commission, Gagliano said Thursday he has not received anything.
Craig said that a $2,720 bill submitted by the Study Commission from the law firm Balph, Nicolls, Mitsos, Flannery & Clark, P.C. will not be paid based on a verbal opinion by Leslie. Craig said the reason is that a Study Commission member, whom he would not name, engaged the firm, but the costs were not approved at a Study Commission meeting.
The Study Commission was plagued with problems during its short lifespan. Initially, The Lawrence County League of Women Voters put the question of whether to form a government study commission to recommend a new form of county government on the ballot in November 2003. At that time, a commission was convened and made a recommendation for a council/manager form of government, which was later rejected by voters.
According to Kennaday’s summary of the group’s history, in November 2007, voters again authorized a study commission to study adopting another form of county government.
The five people whose names appeared on the ballot were elected to the Study Commission, including Loreta Hogans, Kennaday, Brad Olson, Mark Panella and Russo.
Four others were elected by write-in including Richard Audino, Charles Bell, Joseph Cicero and John DiSanti. Two additional members, Donald Currie and Dwayne Evans, were then appointed by the nine elected commissioners.
In December 2007, Kennaday was elected chairman, Russo, vice chairman; and Cicero, secretary/treasurer.
In July 2008, the Study Commission voted 6-5 to recommend a change in the form of county government. But no conclusion was reached on what the changed form would be.
Then in September 2008, Russo accepted the appointment to New Castle City Council and resigned from the Study Commission after the county solicitor said he could not hold both positions simultaneously.
The Study Commission was subsequently unable to achieve a quorum for a meeting, though, Kennaday noted, several attempts were made.