WEST CHESTER — Chester County’s top government administrator left some colleagues stunned recently by announcing that he would be leaving the county’s employment in the near future, after steering the county through a series of difficult challenges while earning accolades and attaining a list of accomplishments along the way.
On Feb. 21, county department heads were told that Robert “Bobby” Kagel would be resigning his position at an as-of-yet undetermined date, after holding the title of chief administrator since August 2018. No public reason was given for the move, and there was little if any information as to where he would be going.
“It came as a surprise,” one county official said of the announcement. “A big loss,” said another.
But in an interview Thursday in his office on the sixth floor of the county’s administrative office building on West Market Street, Kagel said that his decision to step aside had been building for several months if not years and that it all started with a family vacation to Maine.
In 2019, he and his wife, Michelle Kagel, took a trip to Bar Harbor, near the famed Acadia National Park, and “fell in love with the area.” A second trip to the state in 2021 confirmed their affection for the spot, and by chance, an opening for a town manager in the state came up. Kagel interviewed for the position in the fall of that year and was offered the job.
He turned it down.
“My wife was pregnant” with their now youngest child, he said, and they had no support system in place there, unlike Chester County, where Kagel grew up. “It would have been the wrong decision for our family.”
But the idea of opening a new door stayed with the couple.
Then in August, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was fading into the background, the couple returned to Maine with their children, ages 5 and 2. “My wife said something to me that struck me,” he said. “She said ‘I love seeing this side of you. You’re playing with the kids. We’re really having a good time.’ ”
That “side” of him was the relaxed, smiling Bobby Kagel, and not the pressured county administrator trying to keep any number of balls juggling in the air 20 hours a day, he said. So a few weeks later he decided to call it a career in county government, take a few weeks off, accomplish things around the house, and then see what doors open up.
“I’ve had a conversation with a few different folks, and we’ll see what happens,” he said.
He said he notified the commissioners of his plans in mid-January, and it had been the “best-kept secret” in county government until last week.
On Thursday, the commissioners individually paid tribute to the job Kagel had done in his time as county administrator and said they would now begin a search for his successor. Until then, after he leaves sometime in March his assistant, Deputy County Administrator Erik T. Walschburger, will serve as his interim replacement.
“Bobby’s public service has been admirable, and he has earned my respect,” said commissioners Chairman Josh Maxwell in an email. “I respect his decision. We have a committed leadership team ready to step up as we transition over the coming weeks. We will recruit to find the best candidate for county administrator, which will include a national and local search. I hope we have an excellent roster of internal and external candidates to consider.”
“I made significant efforts to dissuade him from leaving,” stated commissioners’ Vice Chairwoman Marian Moskowitz, who with Maxwell came on board the county commissioners in 2020 when Kagel was entering his third year on the job. “Over the past four years, we’ve worked closely together, and I’ve observed his deep commitment to Chester County firsthand. His talent for collaborating with county employees and external agencies ensured that we consistently delivered top-notch services to our community of over 540,000 residents.
“The last four years have been particularly challenging, marked by numerous crises that placed a heavy burden on everyone, especially on Bobby,” Moskowitz added. “Despite these challenges, he excelled in his role, and his departure will be a significant loss for us, given his creative and passionate dedication to our county.”
“Quite honestly, I wish Bobby Kagel were not leaving the county,” proclaimed Commissioner Eric Roe, who has worked with Kagel not only as a commissioner but as an aide to former Commissioner Michelle Kichline, who was the Republican chairwoman of the board when Kagel was promoted from his position as director of the county department of emergency services. “The reason is simple; he’s among the most competent and knowledgeable people I have ever worked with.”
Roe listed some of the challenges that Kagel had weathered, from the pandemic response in 2020 to the stalled vaccine rollout in 2021, to the escape of murderer Danelo Cavalcante from Chester County Prison in 2023.
“Meanwhile, he maintained the county’s AAA bond rating, secured the approval of five county budgets with no tax hikes, and he implemented a policy of six weeks of paid paternal leave for county employees,” Roe said. “So while I respect his decision, I wish we weren’t losing someone with such a strong track record.”
When asked about the challenges that brought about the stress his wife noted, Kagel used the Yiddish word, “dayenu,” which translated roughly he said means, “that would have been enough.”
The COVID-19 pandemic, which saw him working extra hours every day, seven days a week, with no assistant to help him shoulder the burden, “that would have been enough.” The loss of key county department heads at the department of emergency services, human resources and the county prison, “that would have been enough.” The constant criticism of the county election system, “that would have been enough.” The closings at Jennersville Regional and Brandywine hospitals, “that would have been enough,” he said.
But he was able to traverse those challenges.
“When you come out at the end of this after 5½ years, it’s a lifetime of crises and issues compacted into 5½ years.”
The move to step aside comes as an anomaly in county government in West Chester, as those who are chosen by the commissioners to oversee the operations of the sprawling county government normally stay in place for significant periods of time.
Indeed, since the late 1970s there have been only five people who have served as the commissioners’ chief aides — J. Larry Boling, Molly Morrison, Wayne Rothermel, Mark Rupsis, and Kagel, who succeeded Rupsis after he retired in 2018 after 41 years. (Morrison, Rothermel and Rupsis split duties amongst themselves in the 1980s and 1990s.)
Ironically, later this month Kagel will be honored as this year’s recipient of the J. Larry Boling Award for Excellence in Public Service, an award announced just days before his decision to resign became known.
“With his 22 years of public service, Bobby Kagel has contributed substantially to the quality of life we enjoy in Chester County,” attorney James McErlane said in the press release about the Boling Award. “Bobby has touched every household and every business in Chester County, for which we are grateful.”
Kagel said he heard about the award when McErlane called him on Valentine’s Day to tell him the Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry planned to bestow it on March 22. He gently let McErlane know that he might not even be in county government by then.
“He paused a moment,” Kagel remembered. “Then he said, “Well, it’s for your past achievements, not your future ones.”
Kagel, 44, joined the county as a quality analyst for the Department of Emergency Services in 2002, was promoted to assistant director for quality in 2007 and deputy DES director in 2010. Kagel earned a bachelor’s degree in legal studies from California University of Pennsylvania and holds an associate degree in technical studies and emergency management and planning.
He and his wife and children live in Uwchlan, where he has been a member of the Lionville Fire Company for years.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.
