Somerset County employees receive raises

Madolin Edwards, The Daily American
·2 min read

SOMERSET ― Motions tabled at previous Somerset County Commissioner January meetings to increase salaries for county employees were approved by the salary board Tuesday.

But there is some concern about how the situation has been handled.

District Judge Sandra Stevanus said during the public comment segment that she has two staff members in her New Centerville office who have a combined 61 years of experience. She said while increasing the office managers' salaries "is wonderful and deserving," some of the managers with only five years of experience are getting more of an increase than those employees who have worked for the magistrates for many years.

More: Somerset County Commissioners approve proposed budget with tax increase

The salary board approved raises for county employees:

  • Part-time hourly employees: court officer is $12.50; temporary law clerk is $25 and part-time court reporter is $20.

  • Increased annual salaries for all court-supervised full-time employees not covered by the AFSCME UMWA-JAIL or SCAPE contracts by $1,500; increased the hourly rates for all court-supervised part-time employees not covered by the AFSCME UMWA-JAIL or SCAPE contracts to $12.50, both effective Jan. 1.

  • District court office managers starting salaries were increased to $30,000 effective Jan. 1; and increased Mindy Riek, Kelly Byer, Mindy Pletcher and Jerica Hay's salaries to $30,000. They increased the salary for Cathy Bender to $44,941.

  • The board increased the annual salaries for all non-court supervised full-time employees not covered by the AFSCME UMWA-JAIL or SCAPE contracts by $1,500; and part-time employees to $12.50, both effective Jan. 1.

  • The supervisor on-call position for the Area Agency on Aging receives an increase in per diem rate to $25 Friday afternoon to Monday mornings and holidays.

  • Approved the starting salary for the computer technician/systems analyst at a range of $36,000 to $38,000.

  • The jury managers position was eliminated because Tammy Escalera, court administrator, said the duties were absorbed by her department. The board deleted three positions: data analyst, probation officer aide community service coordinator and probation officer 1.

More: Salary raises tabled; board procedures discussed by county commissioners

Contracts approved

Commissioners also approved the contracts for Benjamin Carroll of Carroll Law Offices of Somerset and Jaclyn Shaw of Shaw Law Group of New Kensington as county solicitors, at a rate of $37,500 a year each.

They accepted the resignation of Lindsay Baer as the Parks and Trails director, effective Feb. 9. The position will be advertised.

Commissioners also approved the county Emergency Management Agency Motorola service agreement contracts for software for battery backup, paging and camera maintenance at $27,269, $21,1825 and $30,040.

The county will be changing web call-in information services from WebEx to Zoom, starting Feb. 13. The changes in numbers to call in will be posted on the county's website.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset County employees receive raises, contracts approved