Salary raises tabled; board procedures discussed by county commissioners
SOMERSET ― Salary board procedural changes, the 2024 budget potential amendments and volunteer pay freezes were all discussed by the new Somerset County board of commissioners at its regular meeting Tuesday.
The proposed new solicitors, Benjamin Carroll of Carroll Law Offices in Somerset, and Jaclyn Shaw, of Shaw Law Group of New Kensington, named the county solicitors pending contract approval at the reorganizational meeting Jan. 2, said the approval will need to be made at the next board meeting Jan. 30 because it wasn't listed on the commissioners' meeting agenda.
Carroll said the item needed to be specifically listed on the agenda as a matter of being recorded in the commissioners' meeting minutes.
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Pay freezes
The commissioners approved a resolution on elected officials' voluntary pay freeze. Commissioners Brian Fochtman and Irvin Kimmel Jr. submitted requests to freeze their pay for the next two years, which was $78,847 in 2023, and was scheduled for a 3% increase to $81,212 in 2024. Commissioner Pamela Tokar-Ickes abstained from the vote.
Somerset County Treasurer Anthony DeLuca also requested to freeze his pay, which was approved by the commissioners.
Yearly pay increases for the commissioners are always voted on by the previous board of commissioners, Fochtman said.
"It was an individual choice. I felt it was the right thing to do," Fochtman said after the meeting of his decision to freeze his pay.
2024 budget changes?
The commissioners approved a resolution on review for potential amendment of the 2024 budget. The motion declares the commissioners' intent to discuss options for a proposed amended budget before it is put on public display. The budget was passed by the previous board of commissioners. The commissioners will adopt the final budget at the Feb. 13 board meeting.
Fochtman said because he and Kimmel weren't involved in working on the budget, they wanted to have a chance to look at it and to be better informed about where the money is going.
"I have an idea of where we want to go and what we want to do with the county," Fochtman said. He said he and Kimmel want to go over the details of the budget with the county's fiscal department.
Several new employees were hired by the commissioners, including Matthew Peters and Vanessa Trecki as probation officers; Brian Seifert as a county detective; Vicki Deneen was promoted from communication officer in the county 911 Center to training officer/dispatcher; Michael Volk was promoted from county detective to chief county detective in the district attorney office; and Mark King was promoted from computer technician to IT director in the IT Department.
Salary board membership
The salary board, which includes the three commissioners and treasurer Tony DeLuca, again tabled salary changes that they originally tabled at the Jan. 2 meeting. Motions for votes were also tabled pending the budget review.
Solicitor Shaw explained that as a matter of business, the head of the county departments should attend the salary board meetings and sit on the board when a motion for their department comes before the board. Shaw said the department heads should be notified in advance that the vote will be coming up and when, so the official knows to attend that meeting.
Shaw said the department head has a better understanding of what's going on in their office. She said by having five votes on the salary board, it will be less likely to have a tie vote.
For instance, she said, on the agenda Tuesday was raises in salaries for the jury managers, district court office managers, court officers and court reporter and law clerks, all of which should have Somerset County President Judge Scott Bittner sitting in on the salary board to vote on the motions as the fifth vote.
Tokar-Ickes said this is a historic break from past practices because the department heads report to the commissioners who have budgetary oversight. She said she feels more specific wording needs to be addressed. She asked if the judge can't attend a salary board meeting, can he designate a representative to vote on his behalf, or if the vote concerns a particular department head, does that person abstain or designate a representative to vote on behalf of the department?
"If it hasn't been done in the past, it doesn't mean it was done correctly," Shaw said. She said she understands this recommendation is very different from how the salary board has been conducted in the past, but she also said other boards meet quarterly unless a special meeting is needed. Somerset's salary board meets more often, which is unusual in her opinion. She said meeting less often would enable the board to streamline the items for discussion and votes.
"What the solicitor said about having the department heads vote I agree," Fochtman said. "They have feet on the ground and they know where the responsibilities lie."
Because these department heads were present at Tuesday's meeting, the salary board did approve: Hiring Joe Castania as assistant director of Veterans Affairs; reclassifying Thomas Leiden in the district attorney's office from assistant district attorney to first assistant district attorney and from the sheriff's department, increasing Tim Pritts' salary from $42,640 to $57,000 because he was promoted to chief deputy sheriff.
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Pack Saddle bridge
Fochtman said he thinks the historic Pack Saddle Covered Bridge that was damaged by a snow plow and closed earlier in January, should not be closed for repairs for long. He didn't think the structure was badly damaged.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Salaries, budget and procedures discussed by Somerset County commissioners
