1. Provide a brief professional and personal background.
I am graduate of the Seton Hall University, where I obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, with a concentration in finance.
I am a successful, small business owner. I was a financial advisor, a licensed specialist at a local bank and a client services representative at Prudential Retirement Services.
Before becoming commissioner, I was the County controller. I am happily married to Rossella Scotto and the proud father of Mario and Monica Scotto.
2. Why did you choose to run for the office of Clearfield County Commissioner?
Without saying, every candidate running for the office of Clearfield County Commissioner is going to present themselves as passionate for their community.
If not, logically, one would not devote their own time and resources to a campaign. Therefore, in addition to my will to benefit the place where I raise my children, I would like to shed light on one of my other motives for running – the one that sets me apart from the other candidates.
The most unique reason why I am campaigning is to continue fostering growth within Clearfield County. My intentions are to build upon the foundation, which my running mate and I have laid in our first-term together.
For instance, under our leadership, Clearfield County is experiencing a 10-year-low unemployment rate of 4.2 percent. In addition, we have partnered with Penn State University to initiate a program that promotes entrepreneurship and the creation of workforce.
Furthermore, we have accomplished economic development by bringing in, retaining and expanding industry within our area. We have brought in companies such as Makin Metals and Continental Carbonics, retained businesses such as TAFCO and witnessed the expansion of plants such as Danone Wave.
As an incumbent, I want to continue applying my knowledge and experience in effort to nurture the current positive trends in place.
3. What qualifies you to serve in the capacity of Clearfield County Commissioner?
First, it has been an honor to serve as your current commissioner for the past three-and-a-half years. The experiences that I have incurred in that time, along with my previous position as controller and small business background, have been tremendous assets.
4. Do you feel that the county is transparent enough? If not, what needs to change?
While I feel that most county government offices are transparent and provide a great amount of online information for the public, there is always room for improvement.
I believe we should continue to research new technologies to provide additional online access to county information. For instance, I know some counties actually provide live and archived video of commissioners’ meetings and other public meetings.
I would be in favor of researching what is available and see if we could budget for these types of enhancements to make county government even more transparent for the citizens of Clearfield County.
5. If elected, how would you reach out and form relationships with citizens of Clearfield County? How would you reach out to those citizens in the outlying areas of the county?
I already try to make myself available to attend any meetings that the commissioners are invited to. I do my best to attend as many community events as possible, so I can be out where the citizens and voters can see me and speak directly with me.
There is no better relationship a local elected official can have than to speak one-on-one with the people you represent, so they can share concerns and ideas with you.
I also share a good relationship with the people who represent Clearfield County in Harrisburg and Washington. I have been able to have several meetings during the current term with Congressman Glenn Thompson and U.S. Senators Pat Toomey and Bob Casey.
These good relationships allow me to be a strong advocate for Clearfield County and the people who live here.
6. If elected, what measures would you take to ensure the efficient operation of Clearfield County?
Internally, the county government is only as efficient as its personnel and their resources. Therefore, there are two approaches to this statement: maintaining a qualified staff and implementing any available technologies.
For the first approach, I believe we must only select the most capable managerial department heads. Because the structure of an office flows from the top down, a staff is only as functioning as its leader.
Therefore, in order to hire the best potential candidate, I will only make a decision after reviewing a person’s qualifications and conducting a thorough interview.
Successively, as for a department head’s administrative support staff, I will use my position on the salary board to assess the effect that a particular vacancy exerts unto an office.
Based on the change in potential of a particular department, it can be decided whether a position needs to be filled with a full-time staffer, part-time staffer or in some cases, no staffer at all.
Especially within a time of budgetary constraint, employing part-time help is a great strategy to maintain an even distribution of responsibility while saving the county from losing crucial assets.
At this point, I think it is appropriate to discuss another strategy that can expedite tasks at a minimal cost, cross training.
If a new employee can encompass multiple facets of their department, an office can operate more fluidly. Ultimately, because of the heightened budgetary stress, there has to be a heightened emphasis on personnel effectiveness.
For the second approach, I find it imperative that the county departments are equipped with the best tools necessary to serve their purpose. That is why I support trying to incorporate new, yet budget-friendly technological applications into our office conduct.
The collection of both of these measures streamlines the efficiency of Clearfield County by ensuring that the most is accomplished with the resources available. After all, an entity can only try to do its best with what it has.
7. If elected, what measures would you take to generate economic development opportunities for Clearfield County?
I want to continue with some of the progress we’ve made in recent years that brought in Danone Wave to the Sandy township/Dubois area along with the announcement of British firm Makin Metal coming to Clearfield.
I also support the LaunchBox program that the commissioners are partnering with Penn State Dubois to bring to the area. LaunchBox is going to be a great asset to assist small businesses in getting started as well as expanding in Clearfield County.
I am really advocating for the program to be marketed in the rural areas of the county like the Moshannon Valley to help bring growth and investment to those areas of the county.
I also serve on the Clearly Ahead Development board of directors, where I help other county business leaders make decisions on economic development projects for the county.
8. How would you fight the drug epidemic currently facing the county? How would you reduce costs, specifically in relation to the operations of the county jail?
As for the first facet of this question, I feel the drug epidemic should be destroyed at the root. And, agreeably, the root of the drug epidemic is the “Big Pharma” firms who have deceptively marketed their products.
That is why I advocated for the decision to proceed with a lawsuit on behalf of Clearfield County against these malevolent pharmaceutical companies.
Subsequently, it is my plan to invest any money received from this lawsuit back into helping county citizens who are victims of the drug epidemic.
As for the second facet of this question, I believe our county jail must strive toward a better balance of punishment. However, the county commissioner position on the prison board has minimal influence over the courts.
We need to look at house arrest and possibly putting people on probation for lesser or minor offenses, along with sending the more severe elements to state. It’s time to say enough to this “two years minus one day” stuff, which translates to county time.
Clearfield County should follow the example of Jefferson County. They have a successful work release program.
Jefferson has 40 participants in their work release program; Clearfield has an average of four participants. Work release offers hope and stability for an inmate.
In addition, Jefferson has a drug court, which helps reduce the number of inmates. It’s time for Clearfield County to start a drug court.
9. If elected, what would be your top priority as Clearfield County Commissioner?
My priority will be to continue economic growth and fight the drug epidemic.
10. What are the greatest challenges facing Clearfield County? If elected, what measures would you propose to resolve them?
I believe that the greatest challenges facing our county are the subjects I mentioned above: economic growth and the drug epidemic. I believe I have presented my plans to these challenges in previous answers above.