Confusion over swearing-in keeps Leechburg mayor from taking office

Although he was appointed the new mayor of Leechburg on Tuesday night, Wayne Dobos had to spend time in political limbo until today.

Following through on his announcement last Friday, Shawn Lerch resigned as mayor at Tuesday night's council meeting. After Lerch resigned, Dobos, 68, a councilman, was appointed to succeed him by a 5-0 vote, with Lorrie Bazzella absent.

Dobos, in turn, resigned his council seat. But Leechburg officials overlooked the matter of administering the oath of office, and nobody was sure which official is supposed to do it. While Solicitor Jim Favero searched for the information in the Pennsylvania Borough Code, council went back to its business.

Dobos, however, was struck by the humor of suddenly being neither mayor nor councilman.

“I had something to discuss, but now I can't because I'm a nobody,” he said, laughing.

His fellow council members joined in, as Councilman Tom Foster quipped, “We finally found a way to get rid of him.”

After locating the appropriate sec tion of the borough code, Favero announced that the oath must be administered by a judge, a district justice or a notary public. Favero said he had no legal objection to Dobos assuming the seat but he would be unable to exercise any powers.

“The duties can't be assigned until the oath is taken,” Favero told Dobos. “You can do that tomorrow morning.”

Council made one more move after that — it appointed former councilman and mayor Tony Roppolo to fill Dobos' unexpired term on council, which has two years remaining.

Lerch's resignation was necessitated by his moving with his wife out of the borough and into a home in Gilpin. Council decided to appoint Dobos because he was the only candidate to file for the mayor's office in the May primary.

In his resignation letter, Lerch thanked the people of Leechburg and painted a hopeful picture of a bright future.

Noting the fireworks accident during the annual firemen's carnival, which resulted in police Chief Mike Diebold losing part of his left arm, Lerch wrote: “I'm sad to be leaving at a troubled time but also a time that so much can be accomplished, as the community has rallied and united around Chief Diebold. I have been personally moved by this community and hope the momentum leads to great things.”

Tom Yerace is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.