Route 219, RTKs, lobbyists, take center stage at commissioners meeting

Conflict continued to take center stage at Tuesday's Somerset County Commissioners meeting.

County solicitor Chris Furman of Gabriel Fera law firm opened the meeting by saying the accusation the county allowed data requested in a right-to-know request to be deleted was untrue. He said when the criminal investigation started, everything was preserved and is available for inspection.

Furman said at the Sept. 10 meeting that he didn't want to stop George Critchfield from speaking during the public comment segment of the meeting, but he felt what Critchfield was talking about was not of public concern.

"We have lots of business. We need to focus on matters of public concern," Furman said.

Questioning time cards

In the public comment part of the meeting, resident Lester Younkin said the commissioners approved his last right-to-know request asking for time cards of county employees.

He said two of the time cards stand out as a concern to him. Younkin questioned why the operating director got $12,440 in overtime pay when he is an exempted employee.

Somerset County Treasurer Tony DeLuca said the employee recorded 280 hours of overtime but is an exempted employee and is the only director or manager who has received overtime. If a union employee attempts to file for overtime, he is told to take compensation time, DeLuca said.

Questions for lobbyists

DeLuca also said that he asked for an itemized invoice of what was done by Pendulum Strategies LLC for the county, but hasn't received one. At the Sept. 12 meeting, DeLuca said the contract had expired in June 2022. He said the invoice was for $135,000, but he would not sign a check for payment until the county has a signed contract. He also questioned whether Michael Frazier was an employee of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP.

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP is an organization of attorneys and business professionals who advocate for clients and offer solutions to challenging business problems using its lobbying contacts. Ronald Klink, senior policy advisor for Nelson Mullins from Washington, D.C., and Michael Frazier, principal at Pendulum Strategies LLC, also from Washington, D.C., both attended Tuesday's meeting.

"Mr. Frazier's group never said what they did for the $5,000 a month," that there is no itemization, DeLuca said.Klink said he is distressed about what is being said about Nelson Mullins.

"We adhere to all of the ethics. My reputation is what I have. When you impugn it, you impugn me," he said.Klink said the documentation by Nelson Mullens reflects what work was done.

"The information is there," he said. He said they correspond almost weekly, mostly verbally with the commissioners."We got $170 million from a dead project for the Hunsrick Mountain to Grantsville, Maryland section of Route 219," he said. "I'm available for unlimited hours. We give you written documentation Mike Frazier gives me. He's going to the agencies. I'm going to the elected officials. We're not going to give you itemizations as it's a road map to others as to where we got our money."

Klink said the question had come up if Frazier was an employee of Nelson's company. He said Frazier is not. "He's on our website because I asked him to be on."

Commissioner Pamela Tokar-Ickes said professional reputations are important.

"These two are Somerset County natives. (Klink is from Meyersdale and Frazier is from Somerset.) They were brought on board for Route 219. Let's not screw this up," she said.

More comments

Rose Svonavec, clerk of courts, attempted to read an unsigned letter she said came from county employees, but was shut down by Tokar-Ickes. She said there will be no more confidential letters read in public meetings.

Guy Berkebile asked why Svonavec was not allowed to finish what she was saying in the public comments. Furman said if Svonavec wanted to speak on her own behalf, she could, but they won't allow somebody to speak on other people's behalf, especially because it was an unsigned letter. Svonavec said the employees say they feel they are invisible. She said the RTKs are not gotten to in a timely manner.

Natalie Lyons asked about the broadband survey currently being circulated in the county. Colleen Dawson explained that the broadband and 911 system are two separate systems. She said three years ago Somerset County received $4 million to expand the 911 radio system. The upgrade is taking longer than the commissioners expected, Dawson said, but it is hoped to be up and running by January 2024. She said part of the reason it is behind is because of the lack of equipment available.

The broadband survey Dawson said is to see what areas of the county need to have expanded internet service. Michael Baker International is conducting the survey of Somerset County residents. They can either get on the website ConnectSomersetCounty.com or call the commissioners' office at 814-445-1400 and request a copy of the survey to fill out.

Recycling bins approved

The commissioners authorized buying four 20-yard recycle containers from Northeast Industrial Manufacturing of Greenville for $33,084.72. Ninety percent of it will be paid for by a Department of Environmental Protection state grant.

They are multi-bins that are compartmentalized to collect glass, plastic, aluminum and possibly cardboard. They will be placed at Penn Highlands Community College and will include a cement base as well as surveillance cameras.

This will try to remedy some of the past problems of contaminants such as glass being placed inside cardboard boxes into the glass collection bin, Commissioner Gerald Walker said. The glass has to be clean, no metal or plastic lids. No Pyrex, windshields or window glass is accepted because they are treated glass.

Salary board conflict

At the salary board meeting following the commissioners' session, acting Somerset County District Attorney Molly Metzgar requested an amendment to the agenda to include creating a child justice coordinator position at a salary range of $32,000-$36,000 a year; increasing the Victim Witness Coordinator salary to $36,000 – the county covers only 36% of this salary, so the $8,000 increase is approximately $2,800 cost to the county, she said; and reclassify the temporary part-time assistant district attorney to trial deputy assistant district attorney at a salary of $45,500 with benefits.

Metzgar said the amendment is being made because the first two requests were made, along with the request to reclassify the clerk position to administrative assistant position with a salary of $25,000, prior to the board meeting, but that for whatever reason they were omitted from the agenda.

She said the salaries are needed to maintain order and efficiency in the office and to ensure the protection of life and property within the county and are urgent. Metzgar said the office saved more than $213,000 in salary and benefits alone in unfilled positions, and this would cost less than half of those savings in the long run.

Metzgar said 20 child abuse cases have been filed in the last few months and the office has seen a marked increase in the cases over the last four years. She said the VWC position is very stressful because the coordinator has to advise the victims of their rights and there has been an increase in the work the person has been doing.

Tokar-Ickes said she had only just received what the requests were and they are different than what was presented to the commissioners before the meeting. She said she was not comfortable making a decision without looking into the budget first.

"I would like the opportunity of the salary board to sit down and talk through the situation. I don't have that information today," she said. "I'd like to look at the organizational structure. It's very confusing to make a decision without having the information in front of me."

Metzgar and DeLuca voted to approve putting the amendment on the agenda. Walker, Dawson and Tokar-Ickes against.

The salary board did approve reclassifying the clerk position to administrative assistant with a salary of $25,000, which was on the agenda.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Route 219 lobbyists, RTKs, new positions and salaries discussed