As of Wednesday, March 1, H. William “Wil” White III is no longer Butler County solicitor.
Commissioner Leslie Osche, chairwoman of the board, said Thursday, March 2, that White was no longer employed by the county, and the commissioners are in the process of appointing an interim solicitor.
Osche didn’t give a reason for White’s departure, saying it was a personnel matter. White could not be reached for comment Thursday.
“This is a matter of trying to get contacts aligned and agreements in place,” Osche said. “We're starting to await confirmation from an individual, and that individual is not available today.”
County commissioners in November 2019 ratified White as the county solicitor, and he began employment with the county that December.
White steered the county through the chaos of the 2020 presidential election, as Shari Brewer, longtime county elections director, had left her position in April.
Adding to the situation was a pandemic and a new law allowing voters to cast their ballot by mail without giving a reason for the first time in state history and the use of new voting equipment in that election.
White waded through those issues as overseer of the elections office for the 2020 primary.
“It certainly has been a trying experience,” White said at the time.
According to an Eagle article on his being named to the position, White was an attorney at Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham in Butler before being named county solicitor.
According to a county news release at the time of his hire, White had more than 25 years of experience with various law firms and served as solicitor for many municipalities and school districts in Western Pennsylvania.
The release said he was a member of the state and local bar associations, had served on a number of nonprofit boards, and graduated from the County Commissioners Association Center for Excellence in County Government.
White earned his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1993, his master's degree in political science from Villanova University, and his bachelor's degree in political science from Allegheny College.
