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Luzerne County Election Board members thanked board Chairwoman Jeanette Tait for her service Wednesday and agreed to quickly seek a replacement for her unpaid seat.
				Tait announced Monday she was resigning for personal reasons and did not provide further details. She is the second board chair to resign in a little over a year, and her departure comes as the county still has no permanent election director or deputy director.
				Kingston Township resident Denise Williams referenced the turnover during public comment, asserting Tait and the others who left were not treated with respect.
				&ldquo;I am very disturbed by this because my concern is who would want to take on one of these positions when they&rsquo;re attacked by (county Council members) Walter Griffith and Steve Urban every time there&rsquo;s a meeting. I really do think that this is the problem,&rdquo; Williams said.
				Election board member Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt directly responded to Williams in disagreement, saying she believes the two councilmen provide &ldquo;constructive criticism.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;It is not attacks,&rdquo; Dombroski-Gebhardt said.
				Also speaking during public comment, Nanticoke resident Ronald Knapp agreed with Dombroski-Gebhardt and said problems must be pointed out so they are known. Those involved in election oversight &ldquo;can&rsquo;t be soft&rdquo; and sometimes must &ldquo;take the punches and blows&rdquo; to make elections better, he said.
				Speaking before Williams, Griffith and Urban pointed out issues they believe should be addressed, although Griffith ended up apologizing when he said board meeting minutes were not posted online when Tait and board Vice Chairman Peter Ouellette said they personally checked and verified that they are publicly accessible on the county site.
				Griffith offered positive feedback this time, saying he picked up his packet to run for county controller at the election bureau and believes interim Election Director Andrea Hill is &ldquo;doing a fantastic job&rdquo; running the office on short notice without a deputy director. Griffith said there&rsquo;s an &ldquo;uptick in morale&rdquo; in the bureau and it appears to be &ldquo;well-run.&rdquo;
				A veteran election bureau employee, Hill is serving as interim director because county Manager C. David Pedri plans to re-advertise the director opening vacated by prior director Shelby Watchilla&rsquo;s resignation to accept a private-sector position. The county is screening applications for the vacant deputy director position. Prior deputy Mary Beth Steininger resigned in August, and her successor, Dino Ninotti, resigned last month &mdash; both to take jobs outside county government.
				Ninotti said before his departure he feels bad for the election staff and board members forced to continually endure criticism from some county officials who never personally observed their work throughout the election process and the challenges they encounter.
				Tait&rsquo;s predecessor, Jose Adames, resigned in June after six months as chairman, citing increased work responsibilities.
				The fifth board member and chairperson seat is selected by the four other county council-appointed election board members. While council must appoint two Democrats and two Republicans, the chairperson can have any party affiliation or none.
				In line with past practice, the board will advertise the seat and publicly interview applicants before voting on a selection, with details on how to apply announced soon.
				Ouellette told Tait during Wednesday&rsquo;s virtual session he appreciates her work since she was appointed in July.
				&ldquo;It was a difficult year, and you rose to the occasion,&rdquo; Ouellette said, as the other board members &mdash; Dombroski-Gebhardt, Keith Gould and Audrey Serniak &mdash; spoke in agreement.
				Tait said she timed her resignation effective March 1 to give the board time to find someone else, but she is &ldquo;glad to turn it over&rdquo; if a replacement is identified sooner.
				Instead of discussing her own board experience, Tait responded to the thanks from her colleagues with a plea for county residents to consider running for election polling place judge of election and inspector posts that will be on the ballot this year.
				&ldquo;If you know anybody you think would be good at doing that encourage them to get on the ballot because they need a lot of people to run for it,&rdquo; Tait told the virtual audience.
				Packets for residents interested in those seats or any others are available in the bureau on the second floor of the county&rsquo;s Penn Place building at the corner of Market Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre.

Luzerne County Election Board quickly seeking replacement for chairwoman who resigned