The Lackawanna County Board of Commissioners moved to reorganize its leadership during a contentious public meeting that included prolonged public comment about the county's property reassessment and questions about conflicts of interest.

After a voice vote to suspend Robert's Rules of Order, the board voted to vacate the chair and appointed County Solicitor Paul Walker as acting chair for the purpose of reorganization. A subsequent motion to appoint Commissioner Brenda Sacco as board chair initially failed after Sacco abstained; a second motion to appoint her passed on a roll-call vote, and Commissioner Sacco was declared chair. The board also appointed Commissioner Schirmack as vice chair and adopted Robert's Rules for future meetings. The board set its regular meeting days for the first and third Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the Commissioners Conference Room.

The meeting record shows procedural confusion during the votes. An initial motion to appoint Sacco as chair was made and seconded but did not carry after Sacco announced an abstention, which meeting participants later said related to a disclosed pay discrepancy for the chair position. County counsel explained in response to a public question that the pay differential was roughly $2,000–$3,000 and cited Pennsylvania's ethics rules as the reason for the abstention. After explanation that an abstention on a first motion can be followed by a valid second motion once a conflict is disclosed, the board reconsidered and passed the appointment by roll call.

The reorganization also included the narrow, immediate appointment of Walker as acting chair to preside over the reorganization. Multiple members of the public and several speakers on the dais questioned that decision because attendees identified Walker earlier in the meeting as formerly the personal attorney for Commissioner Sacco. Public commenters said that hiring Walker as county solicitor and then using him to run a reorganization gave the appearance of a conflict of interest. Commissioner Gaughan, speaking at length during the meeting, criticized the speed and manner of the personnel moves and said those choices contributed to the county's earlier fiscal and operational troubles.

Board actions recorded at the meeting included:
- Approval of minutes from the prior meeting (voice vote; record shows one abstention).
- Suspension of Robert's Rules (voice vote; passed).
- Vacating the chair to allow reorganization (voice vote; passed).
- Appointment of County Solicitor Paul Walker as acting chair for reorganization (voice vote; passed).
- First motion to appoint Brenda Sacco as chair (failed after abstention).
- Second motion to appoint Brenda Sacco as chair (passed after roll-call vote; individual roll-call tallies not fully recorded in the transcript excerpt beyond the explicit record that Commissioner Sacco voted "yes").
- Motion to appoint Commissioner Schirmack as vice chair (passed).
- Motion to follow Robert's Rules of Order for future meetings (passed).
- Motion to set regular meeting days to the first and third Wednesday at 10 a.m. (passed).

"I will not step away quietly," Commissioner Gaughan said earlier in his remarks, outlining fiscal steps his administration took last year and saying he would continue to press for accountability. "We went from the brink of insolvency'to just recently presenting a balanced no-tax-increase budget for 2026 with a surplus of over half a million dollars," he told the room. That statement and other fiscal figures (a $37 million deficit and $19 million in unpaid bills inherited last year) were offered by Gaughan to explain the prior administration's choices and the rationale for his votes.

Public commenters repeatedly urged transparency and faulted the timing of the reorganization. Several speakers said a special election scheduled for Nov. 4 (described repeatedly in public comment) should determine the long-term composition of the board before major personnel changes were made. Others defended the reorganization and called for a return to stable leadership.

No formal ordinance or policy change was adopted at the meeting beyond the reorganization motions; the transcript shows no final action to pause or alter the property reassessment process.

The meeting ended after brief closing remarks from Commissioners Schirmack and Sacco and a motion to adjourn.