Commissioners debate personnel issues
The Fayette County commissioners apparently won’t be replacing fiscal analyst Bruce Beard, whose resignation takes effect Thursday, despite Commissioner Sean M. Cavanagh’s motion to immediately advertise to fill the position. Cavanagh couldn’t get a second at Tuesday’s agenda meeting to fill what he deemed a critical position in county government.
Commission Chairman Vincent A. Vicites said that county manager Warren Hughes is versed enough to assume Beard’s duties, with former chief deputy controller Carl Casurole waiting in the wings to offer his expertise as needed.
Commissioner Ronald M. Nehls said that since Beard was hired the week before he took office in January 2000, he wants to take some time to decide whether the position has merit. He took that position despite some heavy verbal lobbying by Cavanagh, who implored Nehls to back his stand.
Cavanagh and Vicites clashed on the necessity of hiring a successor to Beard, who county personnel manager Rita Wolinski said was resigning in order to do “some outside accounting.”
Cavanagh said that nearly every county in Pennsylvania employs a fiscal analyst in the commissioners’ office. He characterized the refusal to replace Beard as foolhardy and one that eliminates a “critical position” in county government.
“To cut that position is a big mistake. You need somebody in there who’s monitoring the budget daily,” said Cavanagh. “To put all that (responsibility) on Warren (Hughes) is ridiculous.”
Vicites, who earlier had spoken of the need for the commissioners to pare a bloated staff, saw the matter differently. Vicites said that part of Beard’s function was to perform as a purchasing agent in hope of saving the county money.
“If you look at the record, we have not saved on the purchasing (aspect),” said Vicites. “It hasn’t panned out the way I thought it would. We’ve (still) had to have Carl Casurole come in every year anyway (to help prepare the budget).”
Casurole, who is no longer a county employee, has done that work on a contractual basis.
Cavanagh said that failing to replace Beard amounts to an attack on the “neurocenter” of the county government operation, which is exceedingly unwise from a management perspective.
Cavanagh said he’s willing to cut other, more expendable positions from the county payroll -starting with the three solicitors, a number he doesn’t think is needed.
When Vicites said he doesn’t think the county needs to fill all three grant writer positions on the county books, on the basis that two are adequate, Cavanagh said that the current configuration has been “very successful” in helping the county’s municipalities win grants.
“You don’t bite off your nose to spite your face,” said Cavanagh.
Vicites said the county must be ever mindful of its budget situation, particularly considering that it faces a 20 percent increase in employee health insurance premiums next year, along with a new union contract.
Cavanagh basically claimed that Vicites’ concern for cutting positions was a political ruse. “You’ve tried to create jobs for many people,” said Cavanagh, prompting Vicites to respond that he has created only needed positions and never did so with a specific person in mind.
Four personnel votes later, Cavanagh threw Vicites’ own logic back at him as the commissioners were voting on whether to fill a vacant planning/zoning technician I job via the transfer of Sue Martin from the Tax Assessment Office.
Cavanagh said the county has three of those positions on the books and that while two are currently vacant, one is expected to be filled when Scott Sage returns from military service.
Cavanagh said that if Hughes is capable of doubling up by taking on Beard’s duties, the lone zoning technician currently on the county payroll could do the same until Sage returns from the military.
“You just said you want to cut through attrition … Dave Bukovan could do double duty,” said Cavanagh. When Vicites justified the need for two zoning technicians because the 32 municipalities covered by county zoning are complaining about a lack of enforcement, Cavanagh said, “I think you’re being a hypocrite.”
“I’m not a hypocrite, Sean, and you know that,” said Vicites.
Cavanagh then suggested that the commissioners hire only a temporary worker in the position, to fill in until Sage returns. That idea went nowhere, and the vote to place the regular hiring on Thursday’s agenda passed 2-1.
Regarding staffing levels in the commissioners’ office, Vicites said the payroll stood at four employees when he and Cavanagh took office in 1996, a number that swelled to 10 counting Beard.
Cavanagh countered that when he and Vicites first took office in 1996, it was Vicites’ idea to bring back retired chief clerk Joseph Korona Jr. as a consultant at $35,000 per year, which doesn’t demonstrate fiscal prudence.