Board eliminates row office position

BY STACI WILSON

Two deputy clerk positions in different county row offices were on the chopping block at last week’s salary board.

Of those two positions – one in the Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts office and one in the Register/Recorder’s office- one position was eliminated while the other was retained.

The full-time 2nd Deputy Clerk of Courts position was eliminated by the board in a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Alan Hall and MaryAnn Warren, along with Treasurer Jason Miller carrying the vote. Commissioner Elizabeth Arnold and Prothonotary Susan Eddleston sounded “no” votes to the move.

Prior to the vote, Eddleston questioned the rest of the board about the reasoning behind the move.

Hall noted the recent change of collections from the Clerk of Courts department to the probation department.

“A large part of the workload has been taken,” Warren said.

Eddleston said the department had three people in it before taking on collection. She also said she needed the manpower in the office.

Hall said the county has spent $300,000 to upgrade the office and streamline the department, but collections were down in the past year and warrants had not been issued.

The board made a similar move in the Register/Recorder’s office – but that failed in another 3-2 vote, with Miller, Arnold and Register Michelle Estabrook voting in favor of keeping the 2nd Deputy position in that office.

Like Eddleston, Estabrook asked for the board’s reasoning behind the move.

Hall said the position had been vacant for the past four months.

Estabrook said salaries in the office had been reduced $40,000 in the past year and that the office spends less than it takes in.

Estabrook said she had been picking up the workload while the employees are training in their positions.

Francis O’Connor, solicitor for the row office, told the board that this was the wrong time for the move.

The board voted to adjust the starting rate of pay for the Victim Witness Coordinator from $8.48 per hour to $11.48 per hour, per the recommendation of District Attorney Robert Klein. The position, currently vacant, will be posted.