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No official rules address change to county chair

County commissioners are able to change the chairperson at any time and for any reason.

That’s according to a state Department of Community and Economic Development manual for county commissioners.

“At the first meeting of the new board in January, a determination must be made as to who will be the chairman and who will be the vice chairman. Any one of the board members may become the chairman,” the manual explains. “The most common scenario is for one of the majority members to become chairman and the other majority member to become vice chairman.”

While that is how the situation in Warren County has been constructed since the beginning of the current term – with Ben Kafferlin and Cindy Morrison swapping from vice-chair to chair and vice-versa – it’s not the only model in place throughout the Commonwealth.

“There are instances where the minority member serves as chairman,” the manual explains. “For example some counties observe a custom of rotating the chair annually. Others have a custom that the member of the majority party who received the most votes in the general election becomes the chairman.”

“There is no requirement regarding highest vote-getter, although in many counties it is the custom,” said Ken Kroski, director of media and public relations for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. “On the other hand we do have counties that rotate the chairmanship annually – even allowing the minority commissioner the seat.”

But regardless of any tradition, commissioners can make a change at any time.

“Any time that the board wishes to reorganize it may,” the manual states.

The chair is responsible for setting the agenda, running the meetings and maintaining decorum at those meetings.

“In a state of emergency, the chair becomes the executive of the county and has vast authority,” now-Chairman Ben Kafferlin said on Thursday.

He added that some grant applications specifically require the signature of the chairperson, as well.

In making an argument for the move at Wednesday’s meeting, Commissioner Jeff Eggleston raised issues relative to the number of hours Morrison spends at the courthouse, though he never put forth what an acceptable number would be.

Chief Clerk Pam Matve said that there is nothing in the county code to indicate how many hours each week a commissioner should be in the office nor is there any type of county-level bylaws that state such requirements.

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