SCRANTON — A split Lackawanna County Board of Commissioners voted Wednesday to temporarily appoint attorney Chris Munley to the bicounty board that oversees the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, replacing Commissioner Chris Chermak on the board while he remains a candidate for the airport’s executive director job.

The fiery meeting featured bitter sparring over the appointment issue and two votes on the resolution to appoint Munley, the first of which deadlocked 1-1 after Chermak abstained “out of an abundance of caution.”

“Since I am an applicant for the airport director position, I believe that my participation in the process to fill this seat at this time could pose (a) potential conflict of interest,” he said from the dais.

After the first vote failed, however, Commissioner Thom Welby reintroduced the matter for a second vote that passed 2-1, with Chermak and Welby in favor and Commissioner Bill Gaughan opposed. It came after Gaughan raised “serious concerns and questions” about the appointment, including whether Chermak would “be permitted to vote on the appointment of the very person who could ultimately cast a vote on his own employment.”

“Even if it is legally permissible, and no one has told me that it is, does it pass the common sense test that the public expects?” Gaughan asked.

Section 1103(j) of the Pennsylvania Public Official and Employee Ethics Act says when one member of a three-member governing body like the board of commissioners abstains due to a conflict of interest and the other two members cast opposing votes, the member who abstained can vote to break the tie if they publicly announce and disclose the nature of the conflict in writing prior to the vote. Chermak — who chaired the airport board before acknowledging his candidacy for the executive director job last month and announcing a leave of absence from the board pending a hiring decision — did both prior to Wednesday’s vote to appoint Munley.

He remains one of several candidates still in contention for the executive director position. But without Gaughan’s future support, he effectively can’t get the job unless Munley and Welby and a majority of Luzerne County’s three representatives on the airport board eventually vote to hire him.

Lackawanna and Luzerne counties ratified a new agreement earlier this year for the continued joint operation of the airport, replacing an earlier one from 1968. Under the agreement, any motion or resolution requires the majority support of both partner counties to pass.

Gaughan, who maintains Chermak isn’t qualified for the job, won’t vote to hire him.

He sparred Wednesday with Chermak’s solicitor, Paul J. LaBelle, who accused Gaughan of “grandstanding” and of publicly posing his many questions about the appointment “at the eleventh hour in an attempt to delay a process.” Gaughan, who called the appointment “ridiculous,” rejected the charge and said he’s merely doing the job of a minority commissioner.

While he and Welby are both Democrats, Gaughan maintains that he, not the Republican Chermak, is effectively in the minority role on the three-member body.

Welby maintains the Munley appointment was necessary to guarantee Lackawanna’s representation on the airport board is equal to that of Luzerne County, arguing officials must be prepared in the event of a disaster or other critical occurrence. He also lauded Munley, a partner at Munley Law, noting “I don’t think there are many people in this county that are more ethical, have more integrity and is a better qualified candidate, including ourselves, than attorney Chris Munley.”

Gaughan said his issue is with the process, not with Munley himself.

Munley’s appointment to the airport board will expire upon the hiring of a new airport executive director or when Chermak is no longer a candidate in contention for the position.

Reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, Munley said he’s happy to serve and is looking forward to participating in the hiring process. Officials are meeting next week to discuss interviews, he said, noting he’s reviewed the executive summaries on all of the candidates.

“I come into this with a completely open mind, and everyone who obviously has gotten to this point had some quality that was significant enough … to pass the vetting process,” he said. “There’s a very good selection of candidates, and my goal in this is to select who I think is the best candidate, period. I have no interest in being part of a process that isn’t completely transparent and above board, and I want to make sure that who I choose is who I think is best.”

Wednesday’s action by the commissioners is the latest development since the airport board approved in March a $47,574 contract with ADK Consulting and Executive Search, a Florida-based firm specializing in searches for airport and aerospace management executives, to facilitate the process of finding a successor to Executive Director Carl Beardsley Jr. ADK reviewed 20 applications for the position and at one point winnowed the broader list down to seven, though officials have not identified the finalists.

Gaughan said Wednesday there are five candidates remaining.

Chermak has a private pilot’s license and has served as Lackawanna County’s lone Republican commissioner since 2020. Prior to recently stepping away, he’d served on the airport board since becoming a commissioner, including multiple stints as chairman and vice chairman.

When the airport board might vote to hire a new director is not immediately clear.