Bensalem Council President to Resign

Bensalem Township will soon be in market for a new council president.

Its current president, Joseph Szafran, was recently appointed to serve as Bucks County recorder of deeds.

He was nominated in April by Gov. Tom Corbett. That nomination was approved May 23 by the state Senate.

By accepting this commission, Szafran will have to resign his seat on Bensalem Council.

He told Bensalem Patch that it would be a matter of weeks.

“Council will have 30 days to appoint someone to fill my position until the end of the year,” he said, adding that township political parties would then need to place names on the ballot for the November election to serve the remaining two years on his term.

Szafran will replace Edward R. Gudknecht who passed away last June and after serving as recorder of deeds for 25 years.

According to the county website, the responsibility of the recorder of deeds office is to maintain public records related to real estate, including deeds, mortgages, subdivision plans as well as other documents such as veterans' discharges and notary public commissions.

Szafran isn’t just another political appointee. He has real life experience in deeds and mortgages as the owner of the title agency First Platinum Abstract in Bensalem.

“I’ve been in the business for 38 years,” he said, during which time he’s used the deeds office as a regular customer.

Szafran won’t need much on-the-job training.

“I know the systems they use,” he said. “I know 90 percent of the staff by their first names.”

When asked if he had any new plans for the office, Szafran said he would have to alter his point-of-view from that of a customer to that of a public service provider.