Roseann Novembrino, Scranton’s controller for more than 30 years, submitted her resignation this week, roughly two months before she was slated to finish her final term.
Novembrino, 82, officially retired at the end of the workday on Tuesday.
“She should be commended for her long career in public service, number one,” Councilman Bill Gaughan said. “Number two, she is one of the nicest, kindest people I’ve ever met in my life. She’s done a great job over the last few decades. It’s pretty rare that the people of the city would continue to put their faith in someone time after time after time.”
Her letter, obtained by The Times-Tribune on Thursday, is a two-sentence handwritten note addressed “To Whom it May Concern.”
“I want to thank everyone for all their support over the years,” Novembrino wrote.
She did not note a reason for her resignation in her letter, but she has previously said that her age and health struggles contributed to her decision at the beginning of this year to not seek another term as the top elected watchdog of city finances.
Voters this month chose Democrat John Murray, a former regional director for 23 years in the state auditor general’s office, to take the job come January.
Murray recently met with Novembrino. She “wasn’t feeling great,” he said.
Murray will be sworn in Jan. 6. In the meantime, Mary Lynn Carey, previously the deputy controller/administrator, has taken over the top position.
The controller’s job pays $40,000 a year.
Murray said that he plans to monitor the day-to-day operations of the controller’s office and hopes to meet soon with Mayor-elect Paige Cognetti.
“We have to be one team,” Murray said. “It’s all the same tax base.”
Novembrino got her start in the controller’s office in the mid-1980s. Her late husband, Richard, won election as controller in November 1983 but died in December 1985, less than halfway into his first term.
Joseph Refice, the top deputy at the time, replaced Richard Novembrino and named his widow as deputy controller in February 1986.
Refice won the Democratic nomination for controller in May 1987 but resigned that July to take a job in Gov. Robert P. Casey’s administration. Suddenly, Roseann Novembrino found herself in charge of her late husband’s office. She replaced Refice on the ballot that year.
Novembrino defeated Republican Thomas Purcell by a more than 2½-to-1 margin in November 1987. She’s won election with ease another seven more times.
“She came to work every day,” former Mayor Jim Connors said. “She was always there at her post, available to every mayor and every council person.”
“She didn’t always tell you yes,” Connors added. “But she could tell you no in the sweetest way … You never left there thinking that you didn’t get a fair hearing from Roseann.”
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