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Against the advice of Luzerne County&rsquo;s chief solicitor, the Luzerne County Election Board&rsquo;s two Republican board members on Wednesday appointed Republican county Councilman Stephen J. Urban as the new board chairman.
				The third election board member &mdash; Democrat Audrey Serniak &mdash; loudly voted against the appointment and questioned how it came about without her knowledge. The board had traditionally sought citizen applicants and publicly interviewed them.
				&ldquo;When did this all of a sudden change because nobody talked to me about it,&rdquo; Serniak said.
				Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo said the county&rsquo;s home rule charter prohibits the appointment of a council member to the seat.
				&ldquo;You&rsquo;re in error. You&rsquo;re making an incorrect decision,&rdquo; Crocamo said.
				&ldquo;With all due respect, I disagree with you,&rdquo; said board member Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt. She and fellow Republican board member Keith Gould proceeded to approve the appointment.
				Urban accepted the chairmanship during the virtual session and said the county can challenge his appointment in court if there&rsquo;s a belief it is not permitted.
				The fifth board member who serves as chair is selected by the four council-appointed citizen board members &mdash; two Democrats and two Republicans. However, only three board members &mdash; two Republicans and a Democrat &mdash; are currently seated because Democrat Peter Ouellette recently resigned. Council cannot fill Ouellette&rsquo;s seat with another Democrat until it meets again in March.
				Even though only three board members were in attendance, they were able to act because they had a quorum of three, with two out of three votes enough to get something passed.
				The chairmanship was open because Jeannette Tait also resigned shortly before Ouellette.
				In her argument that a council member can&rsquo;t be appointed, Crocamo pointed to a section of the county home rule charter that says:
				At the time of his/her appointment, throughout his/her term of office, and for a period of at least four years prior to appointment, no election board member shall be or have been an elective county official.
				Shortly after the election board meeting, county Councilman Matthew Vough sent his colleagues an email voicing his displeasure.
				&ldquo;No surprise there was illegal activity at the election board meeting tonight. We need an executive session. This is a clear violation of the charter and while I am not shocked, I fully support taking this to court,&rdquo; wrote Vough, a Democrat.
				Generally, these types of challenges to home rule charters are reviewed by the Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg, not in county court.
				&ldquo;This will get overturned easily,&rdquo; Vough predicted. &ldquo;Wasting taxpayer money for a political stunt, again&#8230;&rdquo;
				After Wednesday&rsquo;s meeting, Crocamo said the county office of law rendered an opinion and referenced the clear home rule charter wording.
				&ldquo;We believe that&rsquo;s the controlling law in this particular instance,&rdquo; Crocamo said.

GOP’s Urban appointed Luzerne County Election Board chairman