Ask around

Here's the question that needs answered: If it's a good idea for the Fayette County commissioners to designate chairman Al Ambrosini as the only one of them who can issue directives to the county's chief solicitor, how many other counties have deployed this strategy?

Do the neighboring counties of Greene, Washington and Westmoreland find it necessary to grant one -- and only one -- of their three county commissioners the power to tell the solicitor what to do?

The answer is, "Probably not." And it's a pretty fair bet that if anyone in those counties tried to do such a thing, the other two commissioners probably wouldn't stand for it.

Why? Because three commissioners are elected to run the county. Not just one. They may have different vote totals on Election Day, but in the eye of the law, once they take office they are equals, entrusted with the same job responsibilities and the same powers.

You can read more about this debate here: http://triblive.com/news/fayette/2189470-74/county-burkley-ambrosini-solicitor-zimmerlink-motion-interim-chief-commissioners-directives

We find it interesting that the rationale (some would call it excuse) being given to support this restriction of involvement is that interim solicitor Ken Burkley of Greensburg needs to be able to focus on devising the litigation-avoidance strategy he was hired to develop.

According to HeraldStandard.com's Friday story, Burkley was hired in March to work three to six months, with this task being his focus.

It is now July. He has worked for the county four months. Can we expect to see the fruits of his labor within the next eight weeks? If his plate needs cleared of clutter, why is that necessary now? Shouldn't that have been the case right after he was hired?

Here are a couple of interesting paragraphs from the HeraldStandard.com story, regarding Burkley's job duties:

Those preparations include interviews with job candidates.

Ambrosini said any new solicitor the commissioners would hire would come from the pool of "exceptionally good" attorneys in the county and Burkley won’t be considered.

So as the time grows near for Burkley to apparently help choose his successor, it becomes necessary to give Ambrosini -- and only Ambrosini -- the power to instruct the solicitor?

When county commissioner Angela Zimmerlink says, "I have that right and authority as a commissioner" to assign work to Burkley if she wishes, she is correct.

Only in Fayette County would such an idea fly. But don't take it from us. Ask the commissioners in the surrounding counties. If it's such a good idea, they would be doing it, too.