CLEARFIELD – Yesterday, members of the Clearfield County Salary Board approved extending a temporary, part-time clerk in the Prothonotary’s office until next month’s meeting when they will further deliberate the status of the position.
Prothonotary Brian K. Spencer initially requested the salary board’s consideration to upgrade the temporary, part-time clerk position in his office to a full-time position. Or, he said he hoped it would at least consider an extension of the temporary, part-time clerk position, which was scheduled to dissolve June 30.
The temporary, part-time clerk position, he said, was capped at 600 hours, or six months, whichever came first. He said the clerk was to be paid out of the $7,000 budgeted for overtime and as of May 24, the clerk had worked 515 hours. Also, he said the clerk had been paid approximately $4,200 and his office had paid out another $1,500 in overtime.
Spencer explained the importance of this clerk’s position. When he took office earlier this year, he said he was tasked with reducing overtime, as well as streamlining his office to make it more efficient, which he felt has been done. Commissioner John A. Sobel, chair, said the board hasn’t questioned that Spencer has operated an efficient office but didn’t think the temporary, part-time clerk position was budgeted for beyond the date it was to dissolve.
Commissioner Mark B. McCracken verified that the temporary, part-time clerk has been paid $8.20 per hour. He also calculated that Spencer’s office has used up approximately $5,700 of the $7,000 allocated for its overtime in the current-year’s budget.
Sobel then suggested the board address the request and if necessary make amendments to it. Spencer then motioned for a full-time clerk position; his motion was seconded by Controller Tony Scotto. However, Spencer’s request was voted down, 3-2, by Sobel, McCracken and Commissioner Joan Robinson-McMillen.
Spencer then motioned for the board to extend the current temporary, part-time position through the end of the year but not to exceed 1,000 hours. Scotto seconded the motion. Before the board voted, McCracken questioned how Spencer planned to fund the position with only $1,300 remaining in his overtime budget.
Spencer said he would continue to closely monitor his office’s overtime hours and look for ways to become even more efficient. At the same time, he wasn’t sure how far his remaining overtime budget would get him. Spencer pointed out the county wants to hold judicial sales, and while this generates revenue, it creates an expense for his office.
Robinson-McMillen said Spencer didn’t have a lot of “wiggle room” in his current-year budget. Spencer said his office should have realized a $6,000 savings while his current deputy is paid only $25,000 as compared to the last deputy who was paid $31,000. McCracken told Spencer that the county only budgeted $25,000 for his deputy, as the election results were finalized by budget time.
Robinson-McMillen said the county holds budget hearings every fall. At that time, she said all department heads are permitted to submit personnel requests. Robinson-McMillen said there were still a lot of unanswered questions regarding Spencer’s current request to keep the temporary, part-time clerk position.
Robinson-McMillen suggested the salary board consider extending the temporary, part-time clerk position through next month’s meeting. She said it would give board members time to work together to determine the feasibility of extending the temporary, part-time clerk position through the end of the year.
Spencer and Scotto subsequently proceeded by withdrawing their motion and second from consideration. Spencer motioned for his office’s temporary, part-time clerk position to be extended through July 8. His motion was seconded by Robinson-McMillen and passed unanimously, 5-0.