CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield County Salary Board voted to approve pay increases for four positions in the county’s District Attorney’s office on Monday.
DA Ryan Sayers first requested the board to create a position of deputy district attorney and to collapse one full-time assistant district attorney position.
He also requested the following salaries for the first assistant DA, $55,000/year; deputy DA, $50,000/year; assistant DA, $45,000/year; and part-time assistant DA, $30,000/year.
Leanne Nedza will serve as first ADA, Trudy Lumadue as the deputy DA and Warren Mikesell II as the part-time ADA. The full-time ADA position is currently vacant.
Sayers said his request reflected pay increases for these positions because ADAs in other counties of comparable size are being compensated much more.
For example, he said a student could complete law school, join the DA’s office in Centre County and earn more than the first ADA, which is second in command in the Clearfield County DA’s office.
He said it was important to “compensate fairly,” because all criminal cases – except for a handful of Attorney General cases – must cross the desks of his ADAs and himself.
Sayers also said the county has had a booking center account for around five years, and over time it’s accumulated around $380,000.
Currently, he plans for the county to begin receiving rent for use of the booking center at the Clearfield County Jail, and this, he said, will help offset some of the pay increases for his staff.
In an unrelated matter, Sayers said plans are also being discussed for the county to put a booking center administrator in place.
This, he said, will not result in a new hire but be a current employee and their salary will come out of the booking center account.
When asked by Commissioner Dave Glass, Sayers said it’s his understanding the booking center has generated a profit of $50-75,000/year.
In September, he said he spoke with President Judge Fredric Ammerman, who indicated he’d reduced the booking center fee from $200 to $50 because of the accumulation of funds in the account.
Sayers said it’s his understanding that if there’s use of the account, Ammerman will consider increasing the booking center fee in the future.
“This is highly sustainable,” Sayers said. He added that he’s currently working on an agreement with Solicitor Heather Bozovich regarding rental of the booking center and its administrator.
The board subsequently approved his request to create a deputy DA position, collapse one full-time ADA position and to set the salaries as he requested.
In the motion, it was noted the salaries of for the first ADA, deputy DA, full-time ADA and part-time ADA will remain frozen for a period of three years.
In other business, the board:
- appointed Commissioner Tony Scotto as chairman.
- approved to hold meetings the second Tuesday of each month, beginning at 10 a.m. in the commissioners’ conference room at the Clearfield County Administrative Offices.
- approved the 2020 salaries of elected officials as presented.
- approved the 2020 county solicitor’s compensation in the amount of $52,329.
- approved the 2020 salaries of the non-union salaried employees as presented.
- accepted the 2020 wage increases as covered by the collectively bargained contracts.
- approved the minutes from the Dec. 10 meeting.