CLEARFIELD – Clearfield County Government job candidates will soon be undergoing criminal background checks and drug testing as part of the hiring process, the board of commissioners announced on Tuesday.
Commissioner Dave Glass reported that Human Resources Coordinator Marianne Sankey has collected information on the hiring policies in place in other counties for the board’s review.
He said policies will vary from position to position and from department to department. It was noted that some county positions like corrections officers, sheriff’s deputies, probation officers, etc. already require background checks.
Commissioner Chairman Tony Scotto noted that by law, elected officials have discretion over hiring and firing in their own departments. He said while they hope elected officials will adopt the same hiring policies, when approved, they can’t force them to.
“They’ll still be able to ignore our recommendation and hire at their discretion, because that’s just the way it is,” Glass said.
If a job candidate has a criminal history, Commissioner John A. Sobel explained that it won’t be an “automatic exclusion” from employment with the county. He said they’ll consider the crime and if it directly relates to the job.
“It’ll be a comprehensive background check,” he said, “and that will probably be the deciding factor as to whether or not someone is excluded or hired. It’s an important factor.”
No specific details were discussed and the commissioners didn’t take any official action on Tuesday. Sobel said the board will continue with its “exploratory phase and discussions.”
Issues surrounding the county’s hiring process began after the commissioners voted to approve the hiring of Mark Michael on Tuesday, Aug. 11 as the new deputy controller at the recommendation of Controller Tom Adamson.
However, after the board meeting, the commissioners learned Michael had been found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of bank fraud in June of 2013.
According to previously-published press releases from the U.S. Justice Department, Michael was one of three former Dart Trucking business executives charged in a $3.6 million check-kiting scheme.
Michael, chief financial officer, Timothy Kephart, chief executive officer, and Lee Stoneburner, president, were all charged in August of 2011 through the U.S. District Court in Northern Ohio.
The scheme spanned an approximate 2.5-year period from October of 2007 until February of 2010, when bad checks were drawn against accounts at the Columbiana, Ohio Huntington Bank.
The department said the men conspired to kite checks to pay their bills, expenses and salaries by depositing bad checks into controlled disbursements accounts (CDAs).
Michael was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in September of 2013 by U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster.
On Wednesday, Aug. 12, the commissioners called on Adamson to rescind his request to hire Michael so the county could fill the position with a more “suitable and qualified” candidate.
Though Adamson had expressed “no concerns” over Michael’s hire, he informed the commissioners Thursday, Aug. 13 that he no longer planned to bring Michael on his staff.
Adamson formally made his personnel request at the commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, Aug. 25, and instead filled the position with his daughter, Kaitlin Evans, effective Monday, Aug. 31.