Election board to review city vote
Fayette County Commissioner Vincent Zapotosky has called for a meeting of the county election board to determine how an election for a Uniontown City Council office could be conducted. Zapotosky, who chairs the board of commissioners and the election board, said he scheduled the meeting for 9 a.m. Thursday in the Fayette County Public Service Building.
The board will discuss options for proceeding with an election to fill a council seat and the county election bureau’s handling of the election for that office, Zapotosky said.
The office in question is that of former councilman Marlin Sprouts. He won the seat in 2007 and took office in January 2008.
About a month later, he was indicted in a federal mortgage fraud case and resigned on March 17 this year after he was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution.
At the March 17 council meeting, Philip J. Michael was appointed to serve the remainder of Sprouts’ term, which would have ended in 2011.
Michael resigned in April after Democratic council candidate Gary Gearing sued him, arguing he was not qualified to hold the office because he lived in the city for less than a year before he was appointed and council should have appointed him to serve only until the November election.
Council then appointed Republican council candidate Curtis Sproul to fill the vacancy until the November election.
In a March 26 letter, the election bureau instructed the Republican and Democratic parties to submit nominations for the seat by Sept. 14.
Each party’s nominee would have appeared on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Two weeks ago, in an interview with the Herald-Standard, bureau director Laurie Lint said she checked with the Pennsylvania Department of State and was told the office would have to be filled by an appointment until the 2011 election because it was vacated after the March 10 deadline to file primary election petitions.
Last week, a Department of State attorney advised Lint and bureau solicitor Sheryl Heid that the election is a local matter and the department has no authority over how the county handles it, but a state law says the seat should be filled in the municipal election in November because the vacancy existed at least 30 days before the election.
The attorney also said Sept. 14 was the statutory deadline for the parties to nominate candidates and the political parties could petition Common Pleas Court for an extension of that deadline.
Petitioning the court to extend the deadline is among the options the board will discuss Thursday, Zapotosky said.
He said he wants to publicly discuss the election, explain what has occurred so far and come up with a way to give the parties’ executive committees a chance to come up with nominees in time to have them added to the ballot and allow city residents to elect someone for the office.
“I am frustrated with what has occurred. I’m very disappointed,” Zapotosky said. “These are not mistakes that allow the public to have a positive trust. You never want to hurt that trust in elections, which is the foundation of our country. I’m a little upset.”
The Republican Party submitted a nomination by the Sept. 14 deadline, but there were “legal defects” with the submission, Zapotosky said.
He said Lint’s statement that contradicted her March 26 letter is leading him to scrutinize the bureau.
The contradiction “leads me to take a hard look at the office and potential changes,” Zapotosky said.
Lint was not available Monday and is due back at work Wednesday, he said.
“I am concerned about the change in position form early on and I want to take a look at that. I’m not pleased about that,” Commissioner Vincent Vicites said.
He said he wants to talk to the solicitor to get a legal perspective of the election and discuss it at the meeting.
“I think we need to have a public meeting about it,” Vicites said.
The commissioners also said an office on Fairchance Borough Council, which also might have to be filled in a special election, would also be discussed Thursday.