A proposed ballot question to abolish four elected Lackawanna County row offices is facing yet another legal challenge.
Citing what it argues are a series of procedural errors, a petition filed Monday asked county court to set aside the ordinance the commissioners adopted Feb. 5 to put the referendum on the May 21 primary ballot.
The petition, filed by attorney William T. Jones on behalf of Taylor Borough Council President Ken Mickavicz, is the second seeking to block the referendum from the ballot.
On Friday, proponents of a rival ballot question that would create a government study commission to examine the county's form of government and recommend changes filed a similar objection. Businessman Chuck Volpe, who is spearheading the study commission initiative, has said he favors an executive-council form of government.
Under the ordinance backed by majority Commissioners Corey O'Brien and Jim Wansacz, primary election voters would be asked whether the Home Rule Charter should be amended to eliminate four elected row offices - register of wills, recorder of deeds, clerk of judicial records and sheriff.
Mr. Mickavicz contends the commissioners failed to meet statutory public notification requirements before adoption of the ordinance; failed to file a certified copy of the ordinance with election officials by last Tuesday's deadline; and violated the existing charter by making the ordinance effective upon adoption.
Mr. Mickavicz also argues the proposed referendum, by abolishing multiple offices, runs afoul of a charter provision limiting amendments to a single subject.
Paul Lyon, a spokesman for Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Wansacz, said the commissioners want to make county government smaller and less expensive.
"Chuck Volpe and his followers want to make it bigger and more expensive," he said. "The filing of this petition shows once again it is his way or the highway. That's the way Chuck Volpe operates."
Today is the last day to file a challenge to either proposed ballot question.
After the deadline passes, President Judge Thomas Munley and Judges Vito Geroulo and Terrence Nealon, who are acting simultaneously as the court and the Board of Elections, are expected to schedule a hearing and decide whether one or both questions will appear on the ballot.
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com