Marquardt to resign chief clerk position to devote more time to ministry

SUNBURY - The first female chief clerk in Northumberland County, who also is a minister at three churches and a school board member, plans to resign from her county post later this month to devote more time to her ministry.

The Rev. Rose Marquardt informed The News-Item on Tuesday that she will resign, effective Jan. 29. Marquardt has served as chief clerk since January 2008, when the current board of commissioners, consisting of Frank Sawicki, Kurt Masser and Vinny Clausi, took office.

When asked why she was resigning, Marquardt said, "To spend more time in my ministry. The Lord was taking a back seat to my other duties, and that's not right."

Marquardt added, "Serving God and preaching His word is my life."

The 63-year-old resident of Den-Mar Gardens, near Kulpmont, is earning approximately $46,000 annually as chief clerk.

She is pastor of Wilburton United Methodist Church, Zion United Methodist Church in Aristes and Grace Evangelical Church in Locustdale. She has been a minister for nine years.

Marquardt also has been a member of Mount Carmel Area School Board for 15 years and is a former president of the board.

She has two children and three granddaughters. Her late husband, George Marquardt, also was a minister for many years.

Marquardt was appointed chief clerk Jan. 7, 2008. She has extensive administrative experience in many aspects of state, county and municipal government.

Marquardt is the former vice president of Hafer and Associates, a national consulting firm working with state, county and local governments and Fortune 500 companies throughout the United States. She was director of the Pennsylvania Treasury Department's Bureau of Unemployment Compensation Disbursements. Her responsibilities included managing approximately 12 million disbursements and reconciliations annually, which totaled more than $3.2 billion. During her tenure, she modernized various Department of Treasury operations, including installation of the direct-deposit system for disbursement of unemployment compensation and the establishment of an imaging and content management center.

Marquardt also managed the installation of a supplemental payment system for the distribution of Social Security Supplemental Income payments, saving the Commonwealth approximately $27 million per year.

When asked to comment about Marquardt's resignation, Clausi said, "I respect the work she did. She was a good chief clerk, and the first woman ever appointed to that position. I will miss her, and I was proud to work with her during the past two years. And I won't hesitate to call her for advice in the future. I thank her for her good service to the residents of Northumberland County."

Sawicki said, "I'm sorry we are losing her. I wish her the utmost satisfaction in returning to her full-time ministry. People enjoy going to her services, and her congregations are growing. She helped a lot with the transition of county government, and her skills will be missed."

"I appreciated her efforts," commented Masser. "She was a pleasure to work with. Chief clerk is an important position, and she did a nice job. She treated me fairly as a minority commissioner."

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