Chester County’s former CEO says an ‘administrative decision’ to allow access to sports betting sites led to his sudden exit from the job
David Byerman found it "surprising and disappointing" he was removed over the infraction.
Chester County’s former chief executive officer said his departure this week stemmed from an “administrative decision” he made more than a year ago, which allowed county staff to access online sports betting and fantasy sports websites.
David Byerman, who was the county’s top administrative official for just over a year until his departure Monday, said in a phone call Thursday that he was informed by Commissioner Josh Maxwell that he overstepped when he approved an employee’s request to allow access to fantasy sports and regulated online gaming sites on the county WiFi. Byerman acknowledged that he made the decision after being told website access issues were previously under the commissioners’ purview.
Byerman argued that by creating a new CEO role — moving away from the traditional county structure of a county administrator and two deputies — the county increased his responsibilities and authority, and this “was likely a situation where I felt I had the authority to make that decision,” he said. Though Byerman said he didn’t recall the email exchange with the employee, he said he had no reason to doubt it happened.
“Did I occasionally update my fantasy baseball team and put bets on the Sixers and Eagles using the county’s WiFi? Yes, that is true, but it’s also true that I regularly ate lunch at my desk. It’s also true that I regularly worked verifiably 60-hour-plus weeks in this job,” Byerman said. “And I believe I represent the county professionally and persuasively with external constituencies. I take the role extremely seriously. I take my work extremely seriously.”
A spokesperson for the county on Thursday declined to respond to Byerman’s comments. In a weekly community newsletter, the county’s commissioners publicly acknowledged Byerman’s departure.
“Mr. Byerman, whose lifetime career of public service includes impactful roles across the country, is a hard-working executive who focused on improving innovation and communication in county government,” they wrote. “We wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Byerman said he had a “profound appreciation” for the commissioners and the county staff.
Byerman was appointed to the role in 2024, as the commissioners restructured their administrative leadership structure. He was the first to take the title of “CEO” in the county, which came with increased responsibilities, including terminating employees, something previously left to the commissioners, he said.
In his role, Byerman oversaw the county’s 2,600 employees and a roughly $730 million annual budget.
He moved to the county from Kentucky, where he had served as the director of the state’s Legislative Research Commission. He had previously worked as secretary of the Nevada state Senate. But the county CEO job was a return to Pennsylvania for Byerman, who was the chairman of the Chester County Democrats in the 1990s (a fact he said he disclosed to the commissioners during his interview, as his role was nonpartisan).
Earlier this week, the commissioners announced to county staff that they had appointed a new county administrator, former deputy county administrator Erik Walschburger, to fill Byerman’s role. They rounded out the rest of a three-person leadership team by adding Chester County prison warden Howard Holland as an acting deputy county administrator for operations to work alongside Megan Moser, who the county hired last year.
During his tenure, Byerman said he improved internal communications and addressed policy concerns, including the establishment of a research partnership with Temple University to focus on housing within the county and the creation of a working group on immigration enforcement. The county has also spent months responding to a series of election errors, the most significant of which forced more than 12,000 voters to cast provisional ballots in the November election. Residents have said it rattled their trust.
Byerman said he had previously been given “very good” and “excellent” performance reviews from the commissioners, and found it “surprising and disappointing that they opted to move directly to remove me because of this infraction.” He said it was the only reason he was given.
“I think it’s especially important for public servants to demonstrate professionalism, accountability, and respect for the people we serve, and I always work to hit that standard,” he said. “I want the taxpayers who paid my salary to know that I worked my tail off for them, and I’m incredibly proud of the work that we did.”