Local elected officials tend to seek public office for one
of two reasons. The higher purpose is to serve those fellow citizens who are
part of a lifelong community. The low road is populated with political
grandstanders out to earn partisan political stripes by exploiting local voters
who placed them in office. The first group views public service as an honor and
privilege. The second comes to office
for the gratification of power and hope for personal advancement.
The Washington County Republican, Register of Wills, James
Roman, is one of the grandstanders. On May 12, 2021, Mr. Roman submitted an
Op-Ed article that attacked Commissioner Larry Maggi for asserting that it was
time for Washington County to examine its form of government and make needed
changes.
Full disclosure, I have often agreed with Commissioner Maggi
and suggested that a Home Rule model of government would best serve Washington
County. In part, it would permit replacement of the outdated Row Offices,
including the Register of Wills, with a modern system of trained professional
administrators.
Mr. Roman wrongly suggested in his commentary that
Commissioner Maggi was proposing changes to county government only because
Republicans had taken control of the Board of Commissioners and the Row
Offices. Mr. Roman went on to criticize
all three Commissioners, including two of his fellow Republicans, for refusing
to cut the budget and reduce the staff in his office as he had proposed.
What is
particularly shocking is that when Mr. Roman wrote his blistering attack on May
12, he was only weeks away from being served with a devastating audit raising
significant issues in the management of his office. The County Code Act establishes that the
Washington County Controller must conduct audits of those offices who collect,
receive, hold or disburse the public moneys of the county. As reported by this newspaper,
“the audit found various problems with record keeping, internal controls over
bank accounts and untimely payments to the state and county.”
Why
would Mr. Roman seek to cut the budget and reduce staff when his office was
already failing to meet the most basic requirements of his elected position? As
reported in the audit findings, why would Mr. Roman refuse to participate in a
scheduled “audit exit conference” designed to discuss problems and reach
solutions? Finally, why would Mr. Roman
respond to the troubling findings from a non-partisan, mandated, audit function
by labeling it “superficial information to try to discredit me?”
Ironically, Republicans captured control of the Washington
County Row Offices by attacking Democrats for allegedly poor administrative
performance and by emphasizing the theft charges brought against the Democrat
official who ran the Clerk of Courts office. Unfortunately, as evidenced by
this audit, under Republican management, Row Office operations have
deteriorated.
It is interesting that Mr. Roman chose to continue his
employment as a realtor after being elected to this important office. The
Register of Wills performs many complicated functions in its interaction with
lawyers and with the Orphans Court. Without dedicating a full-time effort to learn
all facets of managing the office, the poor results of the audit were
predictable if not inevitable.
It is further beyond the pale that rather than perform his
mandated clerical responsibilities, Mr. Roman has sought to invoke his right
wing political views during his short tenure in the courthouse. Last summer, he
posted a sign leading to his office that proclaimed “James Roman Register of
Wills Believes in YOUR FREEDOMS. While masks are required in the Courthouse,
masks are NOT required in the Register of Wills Office.” Mr. Roman has also
flaunted a county ordinance by insisting on his right to wear a firearm inside
the courthouse.
Regarding Mr. Roman’s anti-masking policy, it received an
immediate and sharp rebuke from then President Judge Katherine Emery. On August
20, 2020, she sent him a letter demanding that the sign be removed and that the
Register of Wills enforce her Administrative Order requiring all individuals in
the courthouse to wear masks.
The Row Offices are designed to perform ministerial
functions so that the court system will run smoothly and the county general
fund will receive the various fees important to offset expenses. There is no
place for a loose cannon like Mr. Roman. His refusal to attend the exit conference, his
attacks against the audit process and his petty self-serving political actions
tell us all we need to know. Mr. Roman should resign and consider running for
state or federal office, where his political gamesmanship might be appreciated.
Returning to Commissioner Maggi’s call for a resolution to
initiate a Government Study Commission, the recent dark history of the County’s
Row Offices makes such a project hard to ignore. With a Home Rule form of
government the patronage-driven offices for civil filings (Prothonotary),
criminal filings (Clerk of Courts), real estate filings (Recorder of Deeds) and
wills and estates (Register of Wills) could all be combined into one
court-based, professional operation.
The new Department of Court Records would be organized in
accordance with best record-keeping practices and would save money by
eliminating overlapping expenditures in each of the existing smaller
operations. Appropriate oversight from a qualified manager would eliminate
fiascoes like the stolen deposits in the Clerk of Court’s office and this most
recent Register of Wills audit.
In the words of Commissioner Maggi, “It’s time for
Washington County government to join the 21st century.”
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