DUNMORE — A particularly contentious public hearing Wednesday on Lackawanna County’s proposed 2026 budget featured pointed insinuations and direct allegations of impropriety before and after Democratic Commissioner Brenda Sacco attempted in vain to adjourn it and stood to leave.
She did so more than 30 minutes into the session at the Dunmore Community Center, where Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan had recently concluded a scathing criticism of Sacco and Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak over their decision to fire county Communications Director Pat McKenna, a longtime former Times-Tribune associate editor. Sacco and Chermak made that personnel move Monday shortly after teaming up to oust Gaughan from his position as chairman of the Board of Commissioners and make Sacco, who recently assumed the commissioner seat she’s expected to hold for just a matter of weeks via an appointment, chairwoman.
While Sacco is slated to be replaced by the winner of a Tuesday special election to fill the remainder of former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin’s unexpired term running into early January 2028, she’s said she hopes to hold the seat for the remainder of the term. She isn’t a candidate in Tuesday’s election, with Democrat Thom Welby, Republican Chet Merli and independent candidate Michael Cappellini filling out the special election ballot.
Democratic Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan addresses the crowd at a budget hearing at the Dunmore Community Center on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. Gaughan is flanked by commissioners Brenda Sacco and Chris Chermak.(CHAD SEBRING/STAFF PHOTO)
The decision to fire McKenna “without explanation sends a chilling message: loyalty to bosses or political insiders trumps merit, service and fairness,” Gaughan said. “It signals that public service in our county can be dispensed with as part of a backroom deal, not as part of a process rooted in respect for the workforce.”
Sacco, who tried multiple times to steer Gaughan back to the subject of the budget, went on the offensive minutes later. She highlighted a number of elements of the proposed budget she claimed warrant further scrutiny and investigation, including whether the nearly 33% 2025 tax hike Gaughan and McGloin begrudgingly approved to address a pronounced fiscal crisis was truly necessary and whether Gaughan tried to collaborate with state lawmakers to secure potential funding that could have mitigated the hike.
She also pointed to a line item marked “legal” in the solicitor’s department section of the spending plan that’s estimated to exceed its $130,000 budgeted amount by almost $200,000 this year. In doing so she mentioned the Scranton law firm Myers, Brier & Kelly that represented Gaughan and the county on a pro-bono basis this year in litigation challenging a county Home Rule Charter appointment process under which Sacco secured her temporary seat.
“In drilling down on the line item there are payments to Myers, Brier & Kelly with an invoice description of ‘legal fees election matters’ along with monthly attorney fees,” Sacco said. “Is this the same law firm whose partners or employees have been involved in supporting Commissioner Gaughan and the independent candidate Michael Cappellini’s campaigns?”
To insinuate political patronage “is so out of bounds and not true at all,” Gaughan said after the hearing.
Sacco, who hired her personal attorney as county solicitor Friday, attempted to quickly adjourn the meeting shortly thereafter. She stood to leave and said “it’s adjourned” as Gaughan attempted to respond, but sat back down as Gaughan and members of the audience protested.
County General Counsel Donald Frederickson, who served as county solicitor until Friday, said later Wednesday that he had not approved any recent bills from Myers, Brier & Kelly and reiterated the firm isn’t submitting bills for its representation in the Home Rule Charter litigation.
But it did jointly represent the county and neighboring Luzerne County last year in relation to a 2024 election matter involving mail-in ballots, he said. It also provided special counsel services under an engagement that expired in July covering “professional services related to the County’s review of the Office of Youth and Family Services, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the County’s proposal to create, establish and administer a single-county department of health,” according to a January 2024 special counsel engagement letter outlining the arrangement.
Lackawanna County Commissioner Brenda Sacco answers questions from the press after a budget hearing at the Dunmore Community Center on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. (CHAD SEBRING.STAFF PHOTO)
Gaughan acknowledged members of the firm supported his political campaign in 2023 — it’s commonplace for local attorneys and law firms to make campaign contributions — but said later Wednesday that Sacco “simply does not know what she’s talking about.”
“What she did tonight in accusing me of things that were outrageous is to take away from the fact that she won’t answer whether or not she will accept the results of the election Tuesday,” he said. “She wants to stay there for two years and disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters. That’s what this thing is about.”
Sacco did not answer when asked directly by Gaughan if she would cede the commissioner seat to the special election winner.
Asked after the meeting if she believes it’s improper for any vendor or law firm that does business with the county to make campaign contributions to commissioner candidates, Sacco said: “I have no opinion on that at this point.”
A television reporter then asked what exactly she plans to investigate.
“We’re looking into the contracts and just making sure that the services that were actually provided were within the realm of the contract,” she said.