{"id":129897,"date":"2026-03-05T01:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/129897\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T01:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:22:20","slug":"upper-darby-officials-clash-over-mayors-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/129897\/","title":{"rendered":"Upper Darby officials clash over mayor\u2019s absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Got a question about life in Philly\u2019s suburbs? Our suburban reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send an idea for a story you think we should cover.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

In the days after Upper Darby Mayor Barbarann Keffer\u2019s arrest for driving under the influence<\/a> in late January, she issued an apology<\/a> that also served as an announcement regarding who would temporarily carry out her duties.\n<\/p>\n

Keffer said the township\u2019s acting co-chief administrative officers, Alison Dobbins and Rita LaRue, would oversee the township\u2019s day-to-day operations while she seeks treatment for alcohol addiction.\n<\/p>\n

However, Council President Brian Burke encouraged Keffer to \u201cprioritize her health\u201d \u2014 and declared himself interim mayor of Pennsylvania\u2019s sixth largest municipality \u2014 in a written statement of his own.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are specific duties, per the township charter, that must be carried out either by the Mayor or the Chief Administrative Officer \u2013 who must have been nominated by the mayor and confirmed by Township Council. In the absence of both the mayor and with no confirmed CAO in place, I feel that it is my duty and obligation to follow the continuity of government provisions as outlined by the charter and to step in and fill the position of mayor on an interim basis,\u201d Burke said.\n<\/p>\n

The township charter<\/a> says Burke would be right \u2014 if the mayor is absent.\n<\/p>\n

But the township solicitor said in a written statement issued by the executive branch that he has determined that she is not absent as defined by the home rule charter.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Got a question about life in Philly\u2019s suburbs? Our suburban reporters want to hear from you! Ask us…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[212,147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-129897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-delaware-county","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}