Westmoreland County's home rule drive formally was set in motion Wednesday when organizers filed papers with the county Election Bureau creating a special committee to oversee the campaign.
Commissioner P. Scott Conner officially created a political action committee, allowing money to be raised and spent on a planned petition drive to have a rule referendum placed on the May primary ballot.
"This is just another step in the campaign to bring home rule and a tax referendum system to Westmoreland County," Conner said.
The PAC is called the Westmoreland County Government Study Committee and lists as its chief objective to support a proposed referendum. According to documents filed yesterday, the proposed question to voters will be:
"Shall a government study commission of nine members be elected to study the existing form of government of the county of Westmoreland, to consider the advisability of the adoption of an optional form of government or a home rule charter, to recommend the adoption of an optional form of government or to draft and recommend a home rule charter?"
Conner is listed as chairman of the committee and Kim Ward, former head of the county's Republican Party and a Hempfield Township supervisor-elect, is acting as treasurer of the group.
Conner said yesterday he donated $500 to the committee. Terry Marolt, a former county commissioner, also gave a similar amount as seed money for the home rule effort.
"I supported it for a long time," Marolt said of home rule. "County government in Pennsylvania is archaic and it needs to be restructured. It needs some major restructuring and some tweaking."
Marolt, who left office two years ago, still has about $33,000 in his campaign spending account that could be used for the home rule drive.
Conner said creation of the PAC is a necessary step to allow for future fund-raising efforts for the campaign.
"It allows us to collect contributions from people who want to see Westmoreland County move forward," Conner said.
He estimated the petition drive and subsequent campaign may cost about $20,000. Fund-raising efforts are planned to begin in February and March, Conner said.
The first objective for Conner, though, is the petition drive, scheduled to kick off Jan. 1.
Conner needs roughly 5,000 signatures of registered voters to ensure the home rule referendum appears on the spring ballot. Earlier this year, Conner announced the creation of a bipartisan committee that will collect signatures for his petition drive.
The petition drive became the means by which the home rule referendum must be placed on the ballot when Democratic commissioners Tom Balya and Tom Ceraso refused to vote to authorize the question.
Should the referendum question be placed on the ballot it would create only the study commission. Members of that commission also would be elected this spring.
The commission then would have 18 months to draft a proposed charter that would be presented to the public in a second referendum.
