The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday appointed Judge William Shaffer to manage Butler County’s Court of Common Pleas.

The decision was made because the previous administrator, Judge Marilyn Horan, will take a seat on the federal bench in October.

Horan is confident that her colleagues in Butler County’s court system will be able to handle the increased caseload when she leaves.

The state Supreme Court appointed Horan last year to take over the county court’s administrative duties after President Judge Thomas Doerr was sued by a probation officer.

But that administrative role for Horan was short-lived. Horan was nominated in December to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania by President Donald Trump. She was confirmed Sept. 6 by the U.S. Senate with unanimous voice vote.

Horan has served as a county judge since 1996, primarily in the court’s civil and family division. Her last day as a county judge will be Oct. 5. Her new position as a federal judge starts Oct. 9.

“Our board of judges have been planning for this,” Horan said Friday shortly before the announcement. She explained that since starting in her new administrative role, she’s worked with the rest of the judges to manage the daily operation of the court system.

“The reality is we’ll be down a judge,” she said.

After Horan departs, she said, the State Supreme Court would have the option to pull a judge out of retirement and into a position known as a senior judge, to alleviate the extra caseload that her vacancy will create. However, justices didn’t select a senior judge, choosing instead to tap Shaffer to fill the administrative role Horan will vacate.

Horan said that the county’s five judges — including Doerr — will be sufficient to shoulder the county court’s caseload.

During next year’s state elections, voters will have the chance to choose a permanent replacement for Horan.

“Our court system is going to be strained, but it’s a good system,” Horan said. “And they’ll (the remaining judges) do what needs to be done to take care of the community and court.”

Stacy Witalec, the communication director for the State Supreme Court, explained the process.

“When the need for an appointment arises, the court identifies a judge who is available and willing to serve,” Witalec wrote in an email. “An order is then filed appointing the administrative judge. The order may include details such as the scope of the (administrative judge’s) authority. It may also specify a time period for the appointment, although typically it’s until further order of the court.”

That order came Friday afternoon.

An alternative to this process exists. The Republican and Democrat county chairs could have proposed names to Gov. Tom Wolf, or state senators whose districts include Butler County could have made recommendations to Wolf, who would then have passed those names on to the state Senate for an approval process that requires two-thirds of the 50-member chamber.

“Which is not an easy thing to do,” said Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st, whose district includes a large part of western Butler County.

Hutchinson confirmed that he did not intend to pass any names on to Wolf.

“We’re almost to November,” Hutchinson said, referring to the upcoming general election. “Pretty soon we’ll be talking about the next election cycle that will elect a permanent (judge).”

Butler County Commissioner Leslie Osche agreed.

“No one is going to do anything until after the election (this year),” she said.

Horan was first nominated to the federal bench in 2015 by President Barack Obama, but her confirmation went nowhere on the U.S. Senate floor and was never voted upon.

Shaffer was unavailable for comment on Friday. He has served in Butler’s Court of Common Pleas since 2000.