Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan opposes temporarily replacing fellow Commissioner Chris Chermak on the bicounty board that oversees the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport amid Chermak’s candidacy for the airport’s executive director job.
Chermak — the chairman of the airport board composed of Lackawanna County’s commissioners, two Luzerne County council members and the Luzerne County manager — acknowledged last week that he’s among seven remaining applicants for the executive director position. He’s taking a leave of absence from the airport board that will eventually hire the next director as the interview and hiring processes play out.
Unless he’s replaced, Chermak’s absence would leave Lackawanna County with two representatives on the airport board where any motion or resolution requires the majority support of both partner counties to pass. Chermak is not stepping away from his commissioner role.
Gaughan said both Chermak and Commissioner Thom Welby approached him last week about replacing Chermak with a temporary airport board member, something Gaughan is “not comfortable with at all.”
“I think that that is a huge mistake,” Gaughan said. “Just because he’s recusing himself does not mean that there’s a vacancy on the board, and the answer to a clear conflict of interest is not creating a temporary board member in the middle of a really important hiring decision that needs to be made.”
“I’ve been told by Commissioner Welby and Commissioner Chermak that this is probably going to occur at the next commissioners meeting,” Gaughan continued. “But what really puzzles me is that when Commissioner (Matt) McGloin resigned from the commissioners office in 2025 and effectively left the airport board, the board operated for months without a replacement. I don’t remember anybody claiming then that the board couldn’t function or demanding an immediate appointment.”
Welby, who maintains Chermak should be replaced during his absence, confirmed Monday that officials discussed a potential airport board appointment. He didn’t know if any action would be taken Wednesday, when commissioners next meet.
“I still feel very strongly that we have to have equal representation to Luzerne County’s representation,” Welby said. “And I understand that what the conversation is about right now is his submitting a desire to be the director, but we don’t know how long that process is going to play out, and in that period of time anything could happen at the airport.”
Without naming anyone in particular, Welby said a potential Chermak replacement should be independent-minded and suggested a former commissioner with airport board experience would make sense.
“There’s more than one,” he said. “Definitely more than one that’s being considered.”
Efforts to reach Chermak were not immediately successful.
Reached last week, airport Co-solicitor Donald Frederickson said the decision of whether to replace Chermak on the airport board is the commissioners’ to make.
“The (airport) board has no authority to appoint or remove members,” Frederickson said. “It’s up to the counties to do that. Do I think it’s allowed under the operating agreement? Yes I do.”
Lackawanna and Luzerne counties ratified earlier this year a new agreement for the continued joint operation of the airport, replacing an earlier one from 1968. The governance section of the new agreement notes that, as of the effective date of the document, Lackawanna County is represented on the airport board by its three commissioners and Luzerne County by its manager and two members of its council.
But the agreement also states that either county “may modify its selection process for member representatives to the Joint Board of Managers without necessity of amendment to this Agreement or agreement of the other County.”
Gaughan reiterated his objections Monday.
“If we start creating temporary voting members every time a conflict comes up, where does it end?” he asked. “They also have brought up to me that they would be concerned about the potential for gridlock and they want full representation, but we have full representation. We have two commissioners and (Luzerne County has) two council members and they have a county manager. You still need two votes from each county to approve anything.”
The debate 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 winnowed the broader list down to seven, though officials have not identified those seven finalists. Chermak only confirmed Thursday he’s on the short list.
Gaughan also contends Chermak doesn’t meet the qualifications to be airport director.
An ADK job posting lists preferred qualifications, including a bachelor’s degree in “aviation management, business administration, public administration, or a related field” and a minimum of “10 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in a commercial service airport.”
Chermak has a private pilot’s license and has served as Lackawanna County’s lone Republican commissioner since 2020. He’s served on the airport board since becoming a commissioner, including multiple stints as chairman and vice chairman.
The executive director position “offers a competitive executive compensation package with a salary range of $135,000 to $150,000, commensurate on qualifications and experience,” per the job posting.