An antiquated system is to blame for Dauphin County Clerk of Courts office turmoil | PennLive letters [Video]

Before anyone blames the elected Clerk of Courts (who recently resigned), it is important to look at the situation she walked into upon taking office. Her election to a county row office was part of a tradition that goes back centuries to colonial times when all communication in that office was handwritten and the volume of work was a fraction of what it is today. Back then, electing an administrator made sense.

Dauphin County is long overdue for a modern form of government. A change to home rule will permit that change, with the likely result (like the other home rule counties in Pa.) being either an elected chief executive and merit-based appointments to top administrative positions or a full-time manager hired based on ability.

Dauphin County is larger than Erie County and Lackawanna County, both with home rule charters, which means the voters of the county choose the form of government. The seven home-rule counties in Pa. …