close

Westmoreland County settles another lawsuit involving sheriff

By Amy Fauth afauth@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read

It’s become a regular occurrence at Westmoreland County commissioner meetings.

Once again, the board approved a settlement — this time for $85,000 — in a suit filed against embattled Sheriff Jonathan Held and his department.

“Righting the sheriff’s wrongs has become a monthly occurrence,” said Commissioner Ted Kopas after the meeting when the commissioner approved the settlement with Anna Gerald.

It’s been less than a month since the commissioners approved another $85,000 settlement in a racial discrimination suit filed by Gideon C. McClain, 61, of Jeannette. McClain claimed he was unfairly rejected as a job applicant because of his race. Gerald’s federal lawsuit made similar allegations against the sheriff’s department.

Gerald, of Monroeville, alleged she applied for an account clerk position in the warrant division of the sheriff’s office. She was one of three candidates interviewed, according to the suit, and was told she was their recommendation for the post.

The suit alleged when a chief deputy in the office learned Gerald, who is black, had been recommended, the deputy told a member of the interview committee that they should interview additional people. The deputy reportedly said she “used to work with blacks” and said that black employees are “nothing but trouble.”

Gerald was not hired for the position. The suit named Held, the sheriff’s office and the county as defendants.

Held, 44, of Hempfield Township is facing a criminal trial on charges he used on-duty county deputies and equipment to do campaign work for him.

Two other federal discrimination lawsuits are also pending by current deputies who claim they were passed over for promotions because of their service as military reservists.

In the past, Held has vehemently denied that the sheriff’s department discriminates against anyone for any reason.

Commissioner Gina Cerilli would not comment further on the settlement citing the fact that it involved litigation.

In other business, the commissioners approved a resolution accepting a grant of nearly $411,000 from the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) program to upgrade the county’s voting equipment as part of a state mandate that all counties have voting machines that have a paper backup of all votes cast.

Cerilli was pleased with the grant as the amount was more than they were expecting. The cost to upgrade all of the county’s equipment according to the mandate is estimated to be between $7 million and $8 million. The commissioners hope to make a decision on the upgrades by the end of this year and have the equipment in place in 2019 — even though the state mandate doesn’t require it until 2020.

In addition to deciding whether to purchase or lease machines and what vendor to use, the county is also looking into the possibility of partnering with neighboring counties to tap into discounts and get the best machines for the best value, according to Kopas.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $4.79/week.

Subscribe Today