After three days of rumors he plans to step down, Lackawanna County Commissioner Matt McGloin left a commissioners' meeting Wednesday without answering whether he will resign the job.
Once the commissioners finished votes on official matters, McGloin, 35, of Waverly, ducked out a side door as reporters scrambled after him to ask about rumors he will soon depart for a college football coaching job.
Josh Castellani, McGloin's executive assistant, held his arms out horizontally as he attempted to block a WVIA reporter from chasing the commissioner down a fifth-floor hallway.
"It ain't happening," Castellani told the reporter, who skirted the attempt.
Reporters pursued McGloin up stairs as he fled and reached the county commissioners' locked sixth-floor suite before reporters did.
Castellani did not allow reporters inside.
McGloin, a former Penn State and NFL quarterback, left the building shortly afterward and did not attend a 12:30 p.m. meeting of the county prison board, whose membership includes the commissioners. Efforts to reach him later were unsuccessful.
Commissioners Bill Gaughan and Chris Chermak and other county officials declined to comment on whether McGloin plans to leave. Chermak said he hasn't spoke to McGloin. Gaughan declined to say if McGloin spoke to him about the matter.
"It's not my place to address rumors," Gaughan told Scranton resident and frequent government watchdog Joan Hodowanitz, who asked about the rumors after McGloin left.
If McGloin steps down, the county Democratic Party will have five days from when the vacancy occurs to develop a list of three potential replacements and submit the list to the judge of the county court of common pleas, according to the county home rule charter.
"The court shall appoint one of the three persons recommended to temporarily fill the vacancy," the charter says.
The charter says "a special election according to the Laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall be held at the next primary municipal or general election to permanently fill the vacancy."
County solicitor Don Frederickson said that does not mean a special election would take place this year to fill the last two years of McGloin's term. The temporary replacement would serve until McGloin's term expires in January 2028 with the next commissioner election in November 2027.
Afterward, Gaughan declined to say if McGloin told him about his plans.
"All I’m concerned about right now is continuing to run this county and conduct the business of the county, which is what you saw today. That’s all I’m going to say on it right now. I’m not trying to be evasive, it’s just I can’t confirm anything. Commissioner McGloin is going to have to do that, and it’s his personal business," Gaughan said.
Commissioner Chris Chermak said he has not spoken to McGloin about his intentions.
"Again, I've heard the rumors like everyone else, so officially, I really have no comments at this point until he makes a final announcement," Chermak said. "If this is true ... I wish him all the best. I mean, that (football) is what he loves to do, so I certainly understand. But again, he could change his mind, so I don't want to commit to anything there. But, you know my main concern is to continue doing what I do and to focus on the residents of Lackawanna County."
McGloin would be fourth commissioner to resign in the middle of a term in the last 20 years.
In May 2005, Commissioner Randy Castellani, Josh Castellani's father, resigned for another job and the county judges appointed Mike Washo to replace him until January 2008.
Despite a muncipal election that year, Washo served out the rest of Castellani's term until January 2008. Because he won a full four-year term in November 2007, he remained a commissioner another four years.
In June 2011, Commissioner A.J. Munchak resigned after a federal jury convicted him and former Commissioner Bob Cordaro of corruption while in office.
The judges appointed Jermyn Borough Mayor Bruce Smallacombe to finish out the rest of Munchak's term, which ended in January 2012. Smallacombe lost a bid for commissioner in the Republican primary election a month before his appointment.
In 2015, the next commissioner election year, Commissioner Corey O'Brien decided against seeking reelection and resigned to take a private sector job in March. The judges appointed former state Rep. Ed Staback to replace him. Staback did not seek his own four-year term.
Munchak was a Republican. Castellani and O'Brien were Democrats.
Commissioners earn $88,929 a year with the board of commissioners chairman, now Gaughan, earning $92,227.